


Chasin' You Down

by allyrei



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akira is a Cocky Bastard, Alternate Universe, Ann is a Ride or Die, Blood and Injury, Crimes & Criminals, Drinking, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Estrangement, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Makoto is a Workaholic, Multi, Police, Polyamory, Rating is M for now, Sexism, Slow Burn, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:16:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28953312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyrei/pseuds/allyrei
Summary: Makoto Nijima vowed to herself in high school that she would become police commissioner, no matter what it takes. Twelve years later, her director gives her a high-profile case that could propel her to her goal; too bad it involves working with one of her least favorite criminals.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kitagawa Yusuke/Art, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Okumura Haru, Sakamoto Ryuji/Takamaki Ann, Sakura Futaba/Technology, Suzui Shiho/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 8
Kudos: 76





	1. Livin’ In a World Where No One’s Innocent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5 or any of its characters, only any original ones depicted here.
> 
> Chapter title comes from “Rain on Me” – Lady Gaga feat. Ariana Grande.

~•~•~•~

There was no such thing as relaxation in the Special Investigations Unit in downtown Tokyo. If you were relaxing, then you weren’t working. If you weren’t working, then you were useless to everyone else.

While half of the workers could care less about that notion, Makoto Nijima was not one of them.

It was her creed. It was what woke her up in the wee hours of the morning, made her skip numerous meal breaks and return home in the middle of the night, ready to do it all over again the next day. She practically sweated and exhaled work. Her work ethic was admirable to her superiors yet terrifying to her coworkers; it was almost like she was a machine. Detractors waited with bated breath for the day that she would have a nervous breakdown, thus eliminating their competition.

Today was not one of them as her lithe fingers flew across her keyboard, typing up a report on a recent homicide case. Makoto never skimped on the details, even if they seemed unimportant to the overall investigation. She had seen so many cases overturn or re-open due to miniscule elements being found out.

“Nijima-san!”

Keeping her fingers moving, her garnet eyes flicked up over her monitor to see in the doorway the smiling face of Yuuki Mishima, a rookie who seemed like a fish out of water here. While most officers had an air of seriousness about them, the young man was chipper 24/7. It had annoyed the hell out of her in the beginning, especially when she was forced to bring him along to investigate his first aggravated assault case. The guy had a goofy grin on his face as he rambled and asked questions about what they could possibly find at the scene and how he was eager to help out in any way he can. Her patience wearing thin that day, Makoto coldly told him that he could help by not touching a thing and letting her ask all the questions. The response only deflated him a bit, thinking that his superior was just having a bad day and saying things she didn’t mean. Turns out she wasn’t kidding as she shoved a pen and pad in his hands right before they questioned the victim. After that case, he quickly got the hint to tone down his earnestness around the woman before she shoved a nightstick up his ass.

“Mishima-kun. Have you gotten those files I asked for?”

“Yes ma’am, right here!” He held up a thick manila folder and waved it. “I also threw in a few printouts from the database that might help you out a bit, heh…”

Pausing her typing, Makoto raised a brow at him. “And I imagine you obtained this info with a superior’s permission this time?”

Mishima’s grin had a nervous edge now, his brows raising. “Of course, heh…I, uh, learned my lesson last time.”

Her lips quirked a bit. “Good. Set them down.”

After doing what she said, the other noticed the empty Styrofoam cup to the left of her keyboard. The inside was stained brown from her morning coffee yet there were no stray drops on the bottom. “Um, Nijima-san, when did you finish your coffee?”

“Mm…about 9 AM. Why?”

He tilted his head with concern. “Surely you could use another one, you’ve been typing away for hours now. Why don’t I go make you some right now?”

“Mishima-kun, I appreciate the offer but it’s too soon for me to have another cup, I’ll be shaking if I drink anymore.”

Now the young man’s face bore incredulity, eyes wide at his superior’s reasoning. “Ma’am…do you know what time it is now?”

Makoto made a noncommittal sound. “I’m guessing it’s only around 11, maybe 11:30.” She had turned off the clock that showed up in the corner of her screen ages ago; time didn’t matter to her anymore.

“…It’s 1:47.”

The typing stopped as her fingers paused, hovering over the keyboard. She looked up at the rookie with disbelief, thinking that he was playing a joke on her. He picked up on this and pulled his phone out of his pocket, turning on the lock screen (which had a picture of a volleyball match on it) and showing it to her, confirming his statement. The action caused the brunette’s mouth to open a bit. After a couple of seconds, she sighed and shook her head. “On second thought, why don’t you go ahead and make one for me?”

Biting his lip to hold back any teasing, he nodded quickly before turning around and leaving her office.

Now that he was gone, Makoto lifted a hand up to her face, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. Losing track of time was nothing new to her but to have someone else notice it was a bit embarrassing. And it was _Mishima_ of all people. The guy was too damn perceptive sometimes.

Sharply reminding herself to focus, she continued typing her report, not even pausing when Mishima came back with a steaming cup of coffee (he remembered her order like the back of his hand), setting it down in its usual place before slinking out once more. She took a sip after letting it cool for a bit, savoring the caffeine giving her an extra jolt. After a few more paragraphs and proofreading it twice, Makoto finished her report and saved it before clicking on the print button. She got up and left her office to head to the printer, keeping her gaze straight ahead. The inspector could feel eyes on her, like always, watching her every move to see if she would mess up in some way. Aside from Mishima, her coworkers were not warm and kept their interactions with her strictly professional though even that was difficult for some of them.

She could count on her whole hand reasons as to why they were not fond of her.

From the first day as an officer up until now, the brunette carried herself with confidence that she could do her job correctly; some mistook it as arrogance and never bothered to clarify with her.

Many of the officers were friends with each other outside of work and her constant rejections of invites gave her a reputation as a frigid hermit.

She often went out of her way to ask for the toughest cases that the higher-ups could give her, leaving the others with parking violations and petty street fights; anyone who enjoyed dealing with those wasn’t sane.

She was a woman in a higher position over many men. While she wasn’t the only female to work in this section, not many had gotten to her current level, bringing resentment from those below her. Some of them thought that she was unfit for the job and had gotten through by kissing ass or spreading her legs.

Her name alone brought contempt from the unit. Being related to a prosecutor who was known for forging evidence and interfering with police investigations was a one-way ticket to being hated. To think that she had still left a dark mark after all these years…

‘No.’

Makoto pursed her lips, brows knitting together in derision.

‘Don’t think about her. This isn’t the time to lose it.’

Taking in a few deep breaths, she unclenched her fists, noticing that her nails had left crescent-shaped marks in her palms. Frowning, she looked up once she heard the printer stop printing, picking up her papers and shuffling through them to make sure no one else’s documents were mixed in. Nodding to herself in satisfaction, she headed back to her office and stapled everything together. Picking up the office phone, she hit the button labeled ‘Director’ and held the receiver to her ear, waiting for the ringing to stop. Within a few seconds, a gruff voice answered.

“Yes, Nijima-san?”

“I’m sorry to bother you sir but I have the report on the Akiyama case ready for you.”

“Ah, yes, thank you.”

“I’ll leave it in your mailbox if you’d li- “

He cut her off. “Actually, Nijima-san, that won’t be necessary. I would like for you to drop it off at my desk, there is something I would like to discuss with you.”

Eyes widening a bit, she nearly stumbled over her words. “Of course, sir. I’ll be right there.”

Hanging up, she stared at the black phone for a little while, wondering just what he could want with her. The SIU director was a _terribly_ busy man and only delegated in-person meetings for discussions with higher-ups or to berate his employees…hopefully it was the former.

Composing herself, she tucked her papers underneath her arm and left the office once more, walking until she left the criminal affairs division to enter the large hallway. She headed to the elevators and pressed the up button, tapping her foot as she waited for the numbers to go from ‘17’ to ‘12’. A ‘ding’ sounded a minute later, causing the metal doors to open as a small group of plainclothes officers stepped out, chatting about their cases of the day. Makoto stepped to the side to let them pass before entering the empty car, pressing the button labeled ‘20’ before standing in the back. The doors shut before making the ascent to the upper floors without interruption. The ‘ding’ came on once more before she stepped through the now open doors, heading to the right and down the narrower hallway to the Director’s office. Stopping in front of the dark wood door, she steeled her nerves before knocking a few times.

“Enter.”

Makoto turned the silver knob and opened the door, stepping inside and taking a quick look around, despite herself. It surprised her every time how non-lavish his office was compared to theirs; if it wasn’t for the nameplate on his desk and the large window overlooking the city, he could be mistaken for just another officer. Once she shut the door, the man in question looked up from whatever he was reading.

“Ah, Nijima-san.”

“Good day, sir. I have the report right here.”

The Director nodded. “Yes, thank you for that. Please, set it down here and have a seat.”

Hoping he didn’t see her swallow the nervous lump in her throat, she walked up to his desk and placed the papers in the document tray on the corner of the desk before sitting in one of the chairs across from him. Straightening her posture up more, she spoke. “You wished to discuss something with me, sir?”

“Yes, I did. I was going to summon you later but I figured I would save you the trip- “His lips turned up a mite. “I know you’re a _very_ busy woman, Nijima-san.”

Her shoulders relaxed a little as her expression matched his. “Indeed but if it’s for you, I can make time.”

“Good. We might be here for a little while.” His expression becoming serious, he closed the manila folder he was reading and pushed it across the desk to her. “I received some new information regarding a case we have been working on for far too long and wanted to share it with you.”

Raising an eyebrow on what he could mean, Makoto picked up the folder and opened. Before she could start reading, her breath caught in her throat at the glossy picture that was stapled to the corner. It housed a person…well, more of a silhouette due to their attire and the poor conditions the photo was taken in. The figure was dressed in mostly black and was lanky in stature and made up of sharp corners and edges, barely resembling a human being. What unnerved yet infuriated the brunette was the mask on their face. It reminded her of a demon with the way the top curved into two sharp spikes and the sides and chin pointed out at an unnatural angle. The sickening part was that the bastard had painted a sadistic smile onto the bottom of the mask, giving their victims a horrible last sight as they perished.

And so the SIU had dubbed him ‘Black Mask’.

A serial killer slash thief who had been terrorizing Tokyo for the past two years and keeping the SIU on their toes. The criminal would steal anything from money to jewelry to confidential documents before finishing off their victims. Serial killers were nothing new to them but this one was clearly unlike the norm. There were no known motivations, no connection to each victim or evidence that could be used to determine the criminal’s identity. To say it was stressful was a foul understatement.

The department’s reputation was in serious jeopardy and got worse with each day that passed with no arrest announcements. It was incredibly frustrating for Makoto to overhear conversations on the train or in restaurants criticizing the force and thinking that they didn’t care about the citizens. She knew that wasn’t the case at all, they were trying their goddamn best…but she could understand their fear as well.

Imagine leaving your house (or even being inside) for a normal day and ending up on the ten o’clock news, leaving your family to grieve as the people who were supposed to protect you can’t even bring justice because they can’t track this monster down.

Reading through half of the first page, Makoto took in the new information with a furrowed brow. “Hm…I see. Where did you obtain this information from, sir?”

“From Akechi-san, I’ve had him combing through any fine details he could find for the last month or so.”

She barely held back her look of distaste for the prodigal detective. “Ah. So what exactly did you want me to do with this information?”

The Director clasped his hands and leaned his elbows on his desk, looking at his employee with his dark eyes. “You see, Nijima-san, I called you in here because despite all of this, we’re still missing pieces of the puzzle. I contemplated a possible approach since yesterday but now that I’ve had time to reflect, I’ve realized that there is no better option.”

“And…what is this approach, sir?”

His gaze became stern. “I feel that the department is approaching this case the wrong way. We’re thinking too much like law enforcement and missing all the possible details that Black Mask might be laying out for us in the open. It seems like it’s time for us to start thinking the way they are and putting ourselves in their shoes in order to track them down.”

Makoto could not help the way her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. Of all the things to hear out of the Director’s mouth, this was _definitely_ not one of them. “Director…exactly how do you…how do you think this should be carried out? I mean- “Her throat cleared. “We’re not going to be…taking this role too seriously, are we?”

If the man ever laughed, now would have been a perfect time to do so. “Not literally, Nijima-san. In fact, I would like to keep my officers as far from this criminal as possible until we’re 100% confident about their identity. What I mean is- “He leaned forward further now, raising a bushy brow. “In order to find a thief, one must get to know how they think. Who better to ask than another thief?”

Now she understood what he was saying.

To get answers, they would have to work with someone who knew how Black Mask walked, talked, stole, killed, breathed. But how was that going to happen? The figure had no known associates and there weren’t many thieves who were on their level that would be worth even associating with. Except maybe…

“I see what you’re saying sir, but…who exactly did you have in mind?”

The older man’s face morphed into one of faux shock. “Why, I’m surprised you’re asking me this, Nijima-san. What thieves have you known of who have been giving you trouble for the last few years that could nearly rival Black Mask’s anonymity?”

She had a horrible feeling in her stomach that the group she was thinking of was the exact one the Director was suggesting; his words only made this discomfort worse. Clenching her hands into fists on her lap, she gritted out through her teeth. “The Phantom Thieves.”

“Indeed. All these years and yet we still don’t know their identities, who else would be better to ask for assistance? I’m sure I can have someone get you a lead to find where they are located.”

Makoto was used to going along with her superior’s ideas but something about this didn’t sit right with her. “Sir…forgive me, I don’t mean to come off as disrespectful but this sounds like a very risky maneuver. How do we know we can trust them to not lead us on or into a trap?”

The Director gave a sly smirk, emphasizing his jowls. “Because we’ll have leverage over them; either help us or be incarcerated. There’s still many charges piled up against them that could keep them in prison until they’re gray and brittle-boned.”

Making an understanding sound, she could see why he was going to these lengths to put an end to this case once and for all but there was still one thing nagging at her.

“Director…is there a reason that you’re telling all of this to me?”

“Why, of course.” He held a hand out to her, as if he was showing off a prized animal. “Who else would be better to perform this task than one of my best inspectors?”

Now her jaw dropped to the floor.

“M-Me?!”

Realizing that she raised her voice, her cheeks flamed as she bit her lip and looked away.

“Sir, I don’t…I don’t understand…”

“Nijima-san, I honestly believe that you are the most capable to handle this case. Even though I know you detest the Phantom Thieves, I can trust that you will put aside your feelings to get the job done, for the sake of the SIU and Japan. Besides- “A brow raised. “This would look great on your letter of recommendation for Police Commissioner, no?”

Whatever protests the woman had ready to give died at what he said. Makoto didn’t have many weak points people knew about but her desire to be promoted was one of them and the Director was dangling it in front of her like a piece of meat and she was a starving dog. Had it been anyone else, she would have questioned whether he was sincere in this recommendation but she knew the man as someone who did not throw promotions out like they were free flyers. The circumstances this was under was not ideal but if she didn’t take this now, this opportunity would never show up again. She hated to admit it but she was desperate.

“I’ll do it.”

~•~•~•~

“And then he walks up to me, all swaggered out and dressed to the nines, and this is what comes out of his mouth. ‘Want to get some Big Bang with me?’ Big Bang? Really?! He was dressed like he had sushi money, and not the conveyor belt kind!”

Makoto shook her head, smiling as their bartender scoffed behind the counter. Her good friend Eiko was telling them about some random man that approached her earlier today while she was handing out flyers for the hostess club she worked at.

“Did you look at his shoes?”

Eiko turned her head, giving the bartender a confused look. “No…what do his shoes have to do with anything?”

The woman folded her arms, giving the other a serious look. “Any schmuck can buy an expensive suit and act like he’s made of money but not everyone can get the shoes to match it. Next time look at them. If they have a ton of creases and are peeling, run like hell, girlie.”

Eiko’s mouth opened into an ‘O’, having learned something new today. “Ohhh, I see. Gosh Lala, what would I do without your wisdom?”

“Pft, you’d probably be working at Serendipity and not Club Opal.”

Everyone cringed at the mention of Serendipity; it had an awful reputation from its former employees who were lured in by its charming manager and supposed high wages.

“Ugh, you’re _so_ right. Right, Mako?”

“Mhm.”

Noticing another one of her friend’s lackluster responses, Eiko frowned and tilted her head. “What’s up, Makoto? Rough day today?”

“Ah, no, it’s just…” The brunette hesitated, biting her lip. She never really liked to bring her work problems into her personal life, especially on drink outings with the other. It was time for them to unwind from their hectic life and catch up on what they had been up to.

This didn’t deter the bubbly woman as she leaned over, nearly falling off her bar stool as she rested a hand on Makoto’s arm and gently shook. “Come ooooon, tell meeeee. You know I like hearing about cop stuff once in a blue moon!”

Unable to hold back a smile at her insistence, the woman sighed. “Well…my boss gave me an opportunity to solve a case we’ve been working on for months but…” Her smile disappeared. “It involves having to get involved with the wrong people in order to make progress.”

“Huh? Is that all? You said no, right?”

“Ah…I was going to but then he said…he would try to have me promoted to Police Commissioner if I ended up solving the case.”

At this admission, Eiko nearly spit out the drink she was sipping. “What?! No way. Noooo way.”

Makoto turned her red eyes to meet with her dark brown ones. “Yes way.”

The normally talkative woman was speechless for once. She knew how much her friend wanted to achieve that goal; it had been all she talked about since that one spring day in their final year of high school. If she was in her shoes, she would’ve said screw it and took the job but Makoto was always much more cautious than she was; it was how they balanced each other out.

“Hmm…well, do you want my honest opinion, Mako?”

As soon as the other woman nodded, Eiko began. “I know you’re a real stickler for the rules and doing the right thing but you’ve been wanting this position for so long and now the opportunity is there…I don’t judge you for saying yes. Besides- “Her glossy, pink lips parted as she flashed a grin. “I know Miss President isn’t the type to be swayed to the dark side so easily and if anyone messes with you, you can give them the ol’ one-two with your fists of fury!”

Makoto’s cheeks flushed at her friend’s reassurance and alluding one of her favorite martial arts movies to her physical prowess. She tried to look put-upon with a pout but it couldn’t last long as it morphed into a full-blown smile. “Thank you Eiko…you’re the first person I talked to about that today. I guess I just needed the validation.”

“Oh yes, that’s because you have such an overactive imagination. Speaking of!” She hollered down the counter to Lala, who was polishing glasses at the end. “Lala, bring us another round! We’re celebrating and trying not to think of anything other than how we’re getting home!”

The policewoman sighed in mild exasperation when Lala shook her head but began preparing two more glasses for the duo. Once Eiko was focused on getting toasted, there was no stopping her. At least she never pushed Makoto out of her comfort zone and respected the fact that she had to get up early for work versus herself who didn’t have to work until the afternoon. After two more drinks (four for Eiko), the two said their goodbyes to Lala before Makoto assisted her friend out of Crossroads, sitting her on a bench while she called two separate cabs for them. Luckily, the black-haired woman was able to give the driver clear directions to her place and after giving Makoto a big kiss on the cheek and a promise to call when she got in, the cab drove off. Her own arrived soon after and she got in and gave her address, sitting back and enjoying the drive over. She had a mild buzz and felt warm all over, watching as the lights of downtown Tokyo passed by through the window. It wasn’t the weekend yet but there were still a good amount of people out relishing in the nightlife. A chuckle escaped her when she saw a group of college-aged girls linked together by the arms, dressed in bright colors and nearly skipping along the sidewalk, singing out loud a pop song she was familiar with.

_“I’d rather be dry but at least I’m alive_

_Rain on me, rain, rain_

_Rain on me, rain, rain!”_

She hoped these strangers had fun and stayed safe tonight.

All too soon, the vehicle pulled up outside of her apartment complex. Makoto gave the driver the fare plus a good tip before getting out, heading to the front door. Bringing out her keys, she unlocked it and entered before heading to the elevators, taking the lift up to the seventh floor. She got out once it reached and headed to the door at the end of the left side of the hallway. Unlocking it, she stepped in and shut the door behind her, sighing as she leaned against it for a bit. Something about stepping into your own home brought the exhaustion from the entire day to the surface.

Not wanting to fall asleep against the door, Makoto locked it before kicking off her shoes and setting her purse down on the couch, starting to walk off to her bedroom to get ready for bed. She froze halfway though as she remembered something. Quickly turning around, she walked over to the shelf hanging above her TV. A tiny smile formed as she looked up at what was sitting on it.

“Hey Dad. Sorry, I almost forgot to say good night to you, you know how crazy Eiko gets at the bar.” Bringing her hand up, she pressed two of her fingers against her lips before resting it on the face in the picture frame. “Good night, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Forcing herself to walk away lest she end up having a full conversation with him, Makoto sighed shakily before heading to her room. She quickly changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before getting under the covers, staring at the rectangles of light on her ceiling, the streetlights shining through her blinds. It didn’t last long as she found her eyes drifting shut within minutes, the alcohol and knowledge that she was going to have to go against everything she learned during her career carrying her into a deep slumber.

~•~•~•~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there!
> 
> So this is an idea that’s been heavy on my *clicks* noggin since last year and I finally said fuck it and started writing at 1 AM. This is only the third fic I’ve ever written but since the other two are for a fandom that’s not super active, I’m a bit nervous to have the P5 one read this, especially since there’s so many good ones already out there ;u;
> 
> But I hope some of you will enjoy this, please leave reviews or constructive criticism, I’m not sensitive! I can’t promise how often I’ll update this as I’m still working on one other fic and working full-time but I’ll do my best to be somewhat consistent. <3


	2. Straddle the Line in Discord and Rhyme

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5 or any of its characters, only any original ones depicted here.
> 
> Chapter title comes from “Hungry Like the Wolf” – Duran Duran.

~•~•~•~

Despite returning home at nearly 3:00 last night, Makoto got out of bed at 6:00, showered and dressed by 6:20, finished her breakfast at 6:45 and made it onto the Shibuya line by 7:00. Now it was 7:40 and she was removing her jacket as she booted up her office computer. The Criminal Affairs department wasn’t bustling just yet, many officers still on their way over or just now waking up. She didn’t mind; this was the best time for her to get her work done.

The Director had given her permission to start gathering intel immediately after she accepted the task, telling her to use the database as a start but to then use whatever methods outside of that to find the Phantom Thieves. The inspector was uneasy to think of what methods he could have meant…

Shaking the worry out of her head, Makoto hung her jacket on the back of her chair before sitting down. She logged into the desktop and clicked on the SIU Database icon and waited for it to load. When it finished, she clicked onto the search bar and typed ‘Phantom Thieves’ before hitting the enter key. A long list of results popped up then, spanning at least ten pages (it looked like it continued into even more, judging by the dots next to the last number). Cracking her knuckles, she got as comfortable as possible before clicking onto the first entry, housing a synopsis of who the gang was and what crimes had been charged against them.

The Phantom Thieves were a group of unknown individuals who had been active for the last four years, known for breaking into various places and stealing all sorts of objects from all kinds of people. What was common was that they always left a calling card behind. They always had the same design, red and black spirals in the background with their logo on one side and a message in white, blocky font for whoever their victim was. The cards would often address the target directly and demand for them to confess of their crimes or wrongdoings in exchange for the return of their possessions. Eventually, the victim would crack and turn themselves in to police or make a public statement; however, the gang would never return the stolen items. The SIU assumed they kept the goods for themselves, never seeing any records of the missing items being sold off anywhere, even in the black market.

One of the first suggestions was to obtain some sort of DNA from the cards but it was futile; it seemed like whoever made or handled the cards wore gloves to prevent detection. Because of this, the police could not figure out just how many individuals made up this group; it could have been anywhere from three to ten to thirty people.

Something that had always piqued Makoto’s interest was that they had not been responsible for any deaths or injuries of their victims. Their aim never seemed to be to kill, only to expose the targets. At the most, some injuries were reported from security guards who tried to fend off the thieves. One would think being up close and personal would help but even they couldn’t positively ID the criminals, often saying that they all wore masks to conceal themselves. A few officers had gotten specific descriptions of these masks and tried to track them down from various stores, in and out of the country, but to no avail.

It bugged the hell out of her how such a group would go as far as theft but never had any blood on their hands after all this time. It was almost as if they truly did not want to kill, only to make the victims acknowledge what they’ve done. To the inspector’s dismay, the Phantom Thieves weren’t viewed as negatively by the public like the police department did. Many citizens saw the gang as decent people who seemed to be confronting those who had too much power and abused others; something they believed that the police should be doing more often. She didn’t blame the public for feeling this way but at the end of day, they were nothing but vigilantes. Crimes should be handled by the proper authorities, not by some thugs with an ego. They had no business getting involved in something that the SIU had under control.

‘You say that but it took you seven months to get a search warrant on Kaneshiro while it took them three weeks to get him to squeal.’

Scowling at the haughty voice in her head, Makoto huffed to herself and continued reading the files. She hated the Phantom Thieves but her future rested on getting this case solved…she would barrel on but with major reluctance. They had been making fools of the department for years and she wasn’t having it anymore; it was personal now.

After scrolling, reading and jotting down notes for four hours, the brunette felt her eyes stinging and forced herself to take a break. Scooting her chair back, she stood and stretched before grabbing her wallet from her purse, leaving her office to go to the lounge area. Along the way, she peeked at Mishima’s computer to make sure he wasn’t attempting to access classified information for an old case he worked on; the scolding he had gotten from her the last time was brutal and she didn’t want to put the kid through that again. Makoto reached the lounge area and went to the vending machine, studying the options to see what kind of snack she wanted to go with her coffee. She had been deciding on a melon pan until a voice piped up from behind her.

“Ah, Nijima-san! I’m surprised to see you out of your office!”

Cringing at who was addressing her, she quickly schooled her face into a cordial expression before turning around to see Goro Akechi standing there, a smile on his pretty face. “Hello Akechi-san.”

“You’re actually taking a break? What a miracle!”

A sardonic smile formed on her lips. “Yes, well, I’m not a robot, I do need to eat every once in a while.”

Akechi’s head tilted, his grin widening. “Well, you could have fooled me. I always see you working more than resting, you know.”

“Well, we can’t all be natural prodigies like you, Akechi-san.”

If he heard the mild envy in her tone, he ignored it. “Hmm…either way, it’s always important to step away for a minute and get a breather, even for hard workers like you.”

“Indeed.” Makoto wondered whether he intentionally meant to sound condescending when saying things like that. Not wanting to seem entirely dismissive of the detective, she nodded at the plastic bag in his hand. “Pancakes again?”

The man’s cheeks reddened at her observation, his free hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck. “Haha, of course…I know I should get something different for brunch but every time I go into Saint Royale, the smell gets to me. I always tell the workers to make sure I try something new but apparently I can be very stubborn when it comes to pancakes.”

Makoto shrugged. “If it works for you, why not stick with it?”

Akechi’s eyes widened in approval as he nodded. “Exactly! Nice to know that you see my point of view, Nijima-san.”

Barely holding back the roll of her eyes, she nodded back. “Mhm. I should leave you to your food. Have a nice day, Akechi-san.”

“Same to you, Nijima-san.”

With those words, the prodigal detective went to go sit down and enjoy his pancakes while Makoto decided to go for the melon pan. She grabbed her snack and poured herself a cup of coffee before heading back to her office, setting her food down. Sitting down and opening the wrapper, the woman munched on her pastry while grumbling to herself about her encounter with Akechi.

To say she wasn’t fond of the guy was an understatement. The only good thing she could say about him was that they both despised the Phantom Thieves equally and wanted nothing more than to take them down.

He had been in the force for less time than she had and yet he was on the same level as her in regard to position. Many had flouted him as a prodigy, having entered the force while he was still in high school and resolving many cases that even the most seasoned investigators could not crack. Surprisingly, instead of taking the offer to gain a higher position immediately, he had chosen to step down and attend a regular college after graduation. Once he had graduated and took some personal time though, he reentered the force but started from the bottom once more. Within three years, he had obtained the position of Chief Detective.

He resided in the Detective Division of the SIU but their cases often crossed over with the Criminal Affairs department, meaning she had to work with him often. She couldn’t deny the man’s talent and charisma but something about him always rubbed her the wrong way. His smiles and compliments seemed disingenuous to her, especially like the one just now in the lounge area. They always had a backhanded feel to them, almost as if he knew he was better than the majority of the workers in this building. It felt like the Detective Prince was a front to who he really was, a mask he wore to get everyone’s guard down and gain their affections.

A shiver went down her spine at wondering why he would even go so far to do such a thing.

‘Makoto, you’re letting him live in your head rent-free, get it together. You’ve got a case to solve, no time to stew in your envy.’

Nodding to her inner voice, Makoto quickly finished her food and coffee before cleaning off her hands, getting back to reading more about the loathsome group.

~•~•~•~

By the time she left the office, Makoto’s shoulders felt like they were carrying cement blocks. Her eyes were dry and sensitive, squinting when she stepped outside despite the setting sun. It was a quarter past 5 and the streets were packed with bodies and vehicles, most people ready to go home after a long day of school or work. In these instances, the woman would not be one of them but ever since the time she passed out from exhaustion during one of her and Eiko’s outings, her friend made her swear to ease up a bit on the long hours. Her mind had screamed at her to ignore the plea but the tear-stained cheeks of the upset woman made her mouth form words that brought a relieved smile to her face.

It wouldn’t do well to work herself into an early grave but there was just _so_ much that had to be done.

She had read all thirteen pages related to the Phantom Thieves’ excursions, ranging from their first heist involving a politician embezzling campaign donations for private hot spring trips to their most recent one, an actress who was outed as being abusive towards her help, disadvantaged foreign women who had no choice but to work for her in order to make a living. She read multiple sections more than once. She read between the lines. She even got desperate and went onto anonymous gossip sites but nothing stood out to her. No hint of where the thieves could be hiding.

A curse had escaped her during a moment of peak frustration just as Mishima poked his head in to check on her. She had to quickly placate the rookie and assure him that he didn’t need to worry, she had just accidentally deleted a document she was typing. Thankfully, he took the excuse and left (but not without offering to bring her back some more coffee).

One of the important details the Director had mentioned to her was that this was strictly a solo task; Makoto couldn’t breathe a word of this to anyone else on the force. The amount of trust and freedom he was giving her was flattering but also terrifying. If this went right, she would get all the glory and her desired position would be close. If this went wrong, she could end up fired, publicly shamed or even dead.

She did not want to entertain any of those setbacks, _especially_ that last one.

Walking among the crowds, Makoto eventually reached Central Street. Looking at her watch, she realized that she still had time to kill until her train arrived. Pursing her lips, she looked around in curiosity before her ruby eyes landed on the Scarlet video rental shop. They turned up as she headed towards the entrance. It had been ages since she curled up with a good movie at home, today felt like an appropriate day.

Stepping in the shop, she returned the shopkeeper’s greeting before making a beeline for the martial arts section. Once she reached, the hardest part came; deciding which movie to watch. The inspector had seen a majority of these already but was she in the mood to go for a new one or stick with a known favorite?

As she was debating, a taller figure scooted past her to head towards the front of the shop. His bright blond hair caught her eye and despite herself, she couldn’t help but follow him out of the corner of her eye. The man walked with a bit of a limp and slouched, giving off a lackadaisical air. His attire was also rather colorful, a violet hoodie on his torso and battered red hi-tops on his feet. He definitely didn’t care about standing out.

Makoto looked away from him and focused on her movie selection, deciding on the classic Master of the Flying Guillotine and a new one called Triple Threat. She picked up the DVDs and headed to the checkout counter when she saw the blond man conversing with the shopkeeper, his leg bouncing impatiently as he nervously bit his lip. The owner typed on the computer next to him and scrolled with the mouse for a few seconds before sighing and shaking his head.

“Sorry son, it looks like I don’t have that movie in stock at the moment.”

The blond’s leg bounced faster in response as he spoke. “F-For real? Well, when are you gonna get it back?”

More typing. “Hmm, looks like it was rented out last night so it could be anywhere from tonight to next Wednesday.”

“Oh man, she’s gonna kill me for not doin’ this sooner! Thanks pops, ‘ppreciate it.”

The shopkeeper nodded and motioned Makoto to step forward as soon as the other stepped away from the counter. While she made small talk with the older man, she heard the blond talking to someone, presumably on the phone.

“Hey there. So, uh, bit of a problem…they don’t have that movie you were lookin’ for.” A pause. “Huh? Oh, well, I didn’t start lookin’ until today-“ The sound of yelling could be heard from the phone. “Calm down, damn! It’s not the end of the world, why the hell did you need to see it right away anyways?!” More yelling. “We have so many movies to watch for-“ Another pause. “Wh- Look, I know, I know, I’m an idiot for puttin’ it off but I _swear_ I’ll check every day startin’ tomorrow! The guy said it could come back on Wednesday the latest.” Pause. “Jesus Christ, woman…look, if I get you that Swiss roll cake you always whine about, will you promise not to bite my head off?” A long pause and then a sigh of relief. “Alright, fine, deal. I’ll be back to the hideout in a bit. Love ya.” A string of grumbles and expletives left him, complaining about how she was going to drive him nuts one of these days.

Makoto didn’t mean to eavesdrop (the guy had a pretty loud voice, it was hard not to) but she was ready to go about her business until she had heard the word hideout. Maybe it was her frazzled nerves and her frenzy for a lead but something about that exchange seemed suspicious. But she could be overthinking things; it could have been an inside joke between friends…if they were under the age of eighteen. What normal person would use the word hideout so casually?

As her thoughts raced, she peeked at the stranger out of the corner of her eye once more and noticed him leaving the shop.

‘I really should just mind my business…’

But the impulsiveness that reared its ugly head once in a blue moon forced her to trail the man after purchasing her DVDs. A large part of her brain was shrieking at her for doing something so reckless but dammit, she was desperate for something. If things happened to go south, at least she had some protection on her and her fists as backup.

The inspector said goodbye to the shopkeeper before shoving the DVDs into her purse, quickly walking back out to Central Street. She looked around the crowded area to track down her target, thinking she lost him until she spotted his purple hoodie. Her head whipped around to see him going into Untouchable, making Makoto’s eyebrows knit.

It was a model gun shop run by a surly man, Munehisa Iwai. She had a few run-ins with him over the years due to his past as a Yakuza member and the legality of his business. There was nothing wrong with selling model guns but there were multiple rumors that he had sold actual weapons and allowed illegal items to be pawned off in his store secretly. She had fought for a search warrant multiple times to catch him in the act but the Director always rejected her requests, telling her it was a waste of time and resources. Suffice to say, Iwai was not someone who she should be showing her face to right now.

Makoto decided to hang back until the blond exited the shop and leaned against the Scarlet building, pulling her phone out and pretending to text someone while keeping an eye out. Her false front kept on for about ten minutes until the blond walked out, a paper bag now in his hand. Frowning, she wondered what was in there until he began walking quickly to the stairs to head underground. Pocketing her phone, she followed him, keeping at least six feet between them to stay inconspicuous. She fumbled out her keycard and scanned it before seeing where he was heading to now. Instead of going to any other shops, the man walked deep into the station before turning sharply and running down another set of stairs. Not expecting the sudden speed, Makoto picked up her pace and headed down said steps in time to see a train approaching. She swiftly headed to the farthest door to enter the same car as her target, praying that he wouldn’t notice her. The doors opened, allowing everyone in. Makoto didn’t bother with taking a seat, wanting to be alert when the man exited. The brunette stuck herself in the corner, taking care to keep her gaze forward in case he looked over this way; this was not an ideal place to get caught.

Gently swaying with the car, she relaxed against the wall and ignored the two schoolgirls chatting endlessly next to her for the sake of her sanity. After twenty minutes and three stops, the blond man got up from his seat and held onto one of the overhead handles. Makoto straightened up immediately, just in time for the speaker to blare in her ear.

_“Yongen-Jaya. This is Yongen-Jaya.”_

As soon as the train stopped and the doors opened, the man zipped out with the crowd. Makoto trailed close behind him and followed him up the escalators until they reached the top. She practically sprinted to the side to make sure he didn’t spot her; a sigh of relief came out when he turned the opposite direction and began walking away. Waiting for the six feet to come up, she continued her pursuit, feeling a little more on edge now.

She hadn’t been to this neighborhood in years and it was relatively safe but who knew where this guy was going to be leading her to. She had to really watch her steps now if she wanted to make it home unscathed.

The sun had set further by now, peeking over the horizon and painting the clouds a burnt orange which stood out against the ombre sky, navy on one side while the other was a yellowish-hued baby blue. Makoto didn’t really like traveling in the dark but she could use it to her advantage, staying in the shadows of buildings and shop signs to avoid detection. Her target continued walking further and further until the tight streets and huddled buildings spread out, allowing more space for pedestrians…if there were even as many as before. The woman frowned at this observation, wondering if there was a reason there weren’t a large amount of people in this specific area of Yongen-Jaya. She couldn’t recall anything from previous cases or office gossip though; best to keep her guard up, just in case.

Finally, the blond stopped in front of a narrow, dilapidated building of medium height that looked like it used to be a warehouse. Makoto quickly tucked herself behind the corner of the noodle shop nearby and watched with bated breath as the man looked around before knocking on the door. In a minute, it opened slowly and just enough for him to squeeze in before quickly shutting.

‘Hmm…the way he entered…it looked like he knocked a specific way plus there was a delay in answering the door…’

The brunette couldn’t help the little smirk on her face.

‘Makoto, your hunch just may have been accurate.’

Feeling a tingle of excitement at her progress, she scrambled her brain for just how she was going to get inside the warehouse. The front door was an obvious no-go and the only two windows on the front were guarded with iron bars. Makoto scanned the area, wondering if there was an unconventional way to get in; the last thing she wanted to do was go home after being so close.

Biting her lip, the inspector looked the building up and down from her perspective; alas, she couldn’t find anything. Not ready to give up, she walked over to the opposite side and was pleased to find that there was an alleyway between it and the pharmacy next door. Walking down that way, she kept her gaze high to see if there was anything she could climb or jimmy open. A pleased sound escaped her lips when she saw a fire escape halfway down, sitting next to a few windows that were free of bars. The only problem was that it wasn’t fully extended.

Humming to herself, Makoto could tell that her height wouldn’t be enough for her to jump up and grab onto the ladder. Looking around, she searched for something sturdy to stand on. A metal garbage can sat next to the pharmacy’s side door entrance, setting off a lightbulb in her head. She ran over to it and gently shook it, happy that it was currently empty. Dragging it over, she removed the lid and turned the can over before starting to climb on it. It wobbled a bit, not used to holding a human’s weight but it stayed still enough for her to jump up and cling onto the rung. She used her upper body strength to head up the ladder until she was able to stand on the fire escape, wiping the bit of sweat that formed under her bangs. Eyeing the windows, she contemplated on which one she should enter; the first one was the least effort but there was a high chance the man or whoever let him in could be on this floor but the third one was higher up and there was a chance she could get stuck on that floor.

After mulling it over for a bit, Makoto decided to play it in the middle and use the second window as her entrance. Heading up one more flight of stairs, she reached it and studied it to figure out how to open it. She pressed her fingers on it and pushed it upwards, finding that it moved a millimeter.

‘It’s locked but it’s not a strong one.’

Realizing that she’d need something to jimmy it open, Makoto groaned when she realized she had nothing nearby to do so; who the hell would leave a crowbar on a fire escape? That’s when an idea came to her.

Rummaging in her purse, she pulled out the switchblade Eiko had gotten her for her twenty-second birthday (according to her friend, the look on her face when she unwrapped the bright pink and yellow paper to find the weapon was priceless). Flicking it open, the brunette wedged the blade into the crack as far as she could before beginning to wiggle it. The window resisted the motions, causing Makoto to grumble as she put more force into it. Still, it wouldn’t give. Getting frustrated now, she put as much strength as she could and continued until she heard a ‘crack’ sound.

A sound of triumph escaped her mouth but was soon followed by a gasp when she realized the window wasn’t the only thing to break.

‘Son of a-‘

Pulling the handle out, her jaw dropped when she saw the blade still stuck in the crack, broken clean off.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me! Eiko is going to _kill_ me!’

As awful as she felt that she broke her good friend’s gift, this wasn’t the time to think of how she was going to placate the dark-haired woman when she found about this mishap. Sighing with frustration, Makoto carefully slipped the blade out and tucked it in a side pocket in her purse, along with the handle. Slowly, she put her fingertips into the small gap of the window and inched it up until she had enough room to get in. Putting her right leg in, Makoto sat on the windowsill and ducked her head in, surveying the room first. Thankfully, no one was in here but a couple of lights had been left on, illuminating a few spots.

The room had a long metal table in the middle, strewn with papers and surrounded by a few folding chairs (five, to be exact) and a whiteboard with various drawings and words was on the wall adjacent to it. But something else soon caught her eye, causing her heart to skip a beat.

On the longer wall, straight across from where she was, was a large black banner with the Phantom Thieves’ logo in the middle of it.

This was it.

This _really_ was the hideout.

Makoto was in massive shock but soon enough, a giddiness overtook it when she realized what this meant for her. This godforsaken case could be solved. Her dream of becoming Police Commissioner was seeming like a reality now.

Despite no one being around, the woman composed herself, her face serious as stone. Bringing the rest of her body in, she stood for a few seconds to look and make sure there were no trip wires or traps on the ground. Satisfied with her inspection, Makoto walked further into the room to study the surroundings. The walls were a dark green, riddled with holes and scratch marks, while the floorboards were made of a dark wood. Now that she was closer to the table, she could see among those papers were manila folders, Polaroids, pens and pencils and a couple of ink splotches stained the metal surface. To her delight, there was a stack of calling cards on one of the corners, looking exactly like the ones the victims had received.

The woman picked one up and examined it, seeing that while the logo was on one side, the opposite had no text yet.

‘So they have templates…that explains why they all look so identical.’

Putting it back down, she walked over to the whiteboard now, brows furrowing as she tried to make sense of the scribble. The name ‘Higuchi Hitoshi’ was written in bold letters on the top and a map printout was taped up on the left while a list was written to its right.

‘Skull…Joker…Panther…are these code names?’

Keeping that as a mental note, Makoto continued looking over the board, eventually understanding what was going on. The gang’s next target seemed to be this Hitoshi man and the map was of his house, marked up with areas to enter and where security cameras were located. The list consisted of items that needed to be stolen and who was designated to each one. There were four names total but this befuddled the inspector a bit. There were _five_ chairs at this table, why wasn’t the fifth person accounted for? She knew the Phantom Thieves definitely didn’t have guests over on a regular basis.

On the bottom, red marker had written a date in bold; October 2nd.

‘October 2nd? Could this be a deadline for them?’

That was only nine days away from today, which meant the criminals could strike at any moment to perform their heist.

Narrowing her garnet eyes, Makoto was tempted to say screw it and take pictures of all the evidence and the plot before leaving and exposing their whereabouts to the rest of the force. But she reigned in her anger as she remembered just why she was put to this task; the bigger enemy was Black Mask and they needed the Phantom Thieves’ assistance to stop this murderer. She wouldn’t want to face her boss either if she flubbed up this mission; her ass would be out the door within seconds of stepping foot inside.

Before she could continue with her moral dilemma, two familiar-sounding clicks went off behind her head, causing her to freeze.

‘Oh shit.’

A recognizable voice spoke with iciness. “Put your fuckin’ hands up and turn around.”

A feminine voice joined with just as much venom. “And don’t try anything funny or we _will_ shoot you.”

Swallowing hard, Makoto carefully complied, raising her hands up near her head.

She could have put up a fight. She could have disarmed them with her fists and knocked them out before escaping. Her gun was in her purse and she was quick to pull it out during danger. But the brunette knew how to choose her battles and cancelled those options.

She _really_ did not feel like getting shot today; it’s hard to finish a case when you’re bleeding out on a warehouse floor.

~•~•~•~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! I cannot tell you how shocked I am that I started the second chapter so quickly after the first one but I hope this keeps up! I’m super excited about writing this all out and I have so many ideas that keep popping up in my head that I have to jot down for the future >u<
> 
> A huge thanks to everyone who read this, bookmarked, commented, left kudos, all that good shit! I know they say you should write for yourself but it’s nice to see that others enjoy your writing and want to see what happens next; I hope you’re all loving this so far!
> 
> Also! I’m putting together a little playlist in Spotify as I go along since all the chapter titles are going to be song lyrics. If you guys are interested in a link, let me know!
> 
> We’ve got a little more action going on this time plus Makoto got caught…wonder how it’s gonna go down next chapter .3.
> 
> Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!


	3. I Got Your Number and I'm Callin' You Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5 or any of its characters, only any original ones depicted here.
> 
> Chapter title comes from “Chase You Down” – RUNAGROUND.

~•~•~•~

Two guns pointed to the back of her head was not how she pictured her day would end up going.

But should she have expected anything less hostile? A naïve person would think that the gang would find her snooping around and listen to her explanation with patience before agreeing to her plan with nothing but acceptance.

Such thoughts were infantile.

Complying further with the strangers’ requests, Makoto carefully turned around to face them, her hands still up in the air. She wasn’t surprised to see the blond man she had been tailing but she couldn’t say the same for the tall woman standing next to him. Her looks screamed ‘foreigner’ but her Japanese was spoken like a native; not a lot of natives with ash blonde hair and blue eyes, though.

Said eyes of hers narrowed further, the grip on her SMG tightening. “Now, who are you and why are you in here?”

Makoto’s lips tightened in response, meeting the woman’s eyes with almost as much venom.

A few seconds went by in silence and the man growled lowly before stepping closer with his shotgun, holding the barrel closer to her face now. “Don’t play mute with us, lady. _Why_ are you here? No, scratch that, how the _hell_ did you find us?”

Makoto chose to reply, her words clipped and haughty. “I followed you, that’s how. You should be careful what words you use in public.”

Her response seemed to catch the duo off-guard, especially the man whose eyes widened and pallor lost color. “No fuckin’ way…from where?”

“Scarlet.”

His mouth hung open almost comedically. “Are you for real?!”

“Ugh, Skull, you idiot! How could you not notice her following you all this time?!”

The man named Skull shrunk a bit as his partner began yelling at him. “I-I didn’t see nobody! She’s like a freakin’ ninja!”

The blonde woman’s eyes glowed with fury as they turned onto him. “You need to be more aware of your surroundings, we’ve told you this a hundred times! And what is she talking about, ‘be careful what words you use in public’?” He didn’t have a chance to answer as her saying it out loud made something click, bringing even more darkness to her face. “You mentioned the hideout.”

“…did I?”

Her eye twitched for a second before she took in a deep breath. “You know…I wonder why I love you sometimes.”

“Aw man, don’t do that, Panther! Besides, you’re the one who’s been harassin’ me about goin’ to that damn store!”

Skull’s momentary burst of confidence disappeared when the one known as Panther began shouting once more. “So now it’s _my_ fault?! I should make your ass sleep on the couch tonight! No, you know what? You can actually stay here with Joker and have one of your boys’ nights out, for all I care!”

Makoto could feel a vein throbbing in her temple as she watched the two continue their argument, forgetting about their intruder. While she could have taken advantage of their distraction and ran out the window, running was the last thing she wanted to do. She wasn’t going to let them stop her from her mission.

“Excuse me!”

Her sudden shouting made the thieves jump and look in her direction once more, eyes narrowing again as they remembered their current situation. “You ready to squeal now, lady?”

The brunette lifted her chin, looking down her nose at Skull. “No. I actually need to speak to your leader.”

Panther’s brows furrowed in confusion, her gun still held at the inspector. “What? Why would we let you speak to them?”

“Because that’s the whole reason I came here, actually. I’m on a…bit of a mission, you see.”

The blond man’s expression became dumbfounded before a chuckle of disbelief escaped him. “You must have some serious stones to go followin’ a complete stranger over a few words and then break into this place.” Skull’s free arm stretched out and motioned to the banner hanging on the right. “I’m guessin’ you know who we are?”

“Of course. You’re the Phantom Thieves, a vigilante group who have been stealing for the last four years.”

Panther didn’t miss the undercurrent of distaste in her words. “I’m guessing you’re not too fond of us?”

Makoto’s eyes narrowed as her lips pursed further. “Was it that obvious?”

Before Panther could snap back at her, Skull stepped in. “Look, you’re in no position to be mouthin’ off to us so watch yourself. Tell us what this ‘mission’ shit is about, lady.”

The inspector’s hardened gaze went onto the man now. “I told you, I need to speak to your leader. I’m not saying anything about that until they get here nor am I leaving without seeing them. Either you bring them here or you kill me. Make your choice.”

Not expecting the stranger’s demanding words and the ultimatum she gave, the duo’s faces became conflicted, still holding onto their weapons tight. Makoto was glad she had a great poker face; her heart was pounding at essentially telling them that she was willing to die unless she got what she wanted. All they had to do was pull the triggers and it would be over.

But they didn’t as Skull leaned in closer to Panther, mumbling even though Makoto could hear them. “Hey…what should we do? This chick ain’t budgin’ but I don’t really wanna give her what she’s askin’ for…”

The blonde hummed in displeasure, a frown marring her lovely features. “I know…but I don’t think she’s joking when she says she won’t leave without talking to him. And I’m _not_ killing anyone, either.”

“Hnh, point taken.”

The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, having a silent conversation with their gazes before they nodded all of a sudden. Their eyes returned to the intruder, showing hostility marred with defeat. “Fine…you can talk to our leader but don’t expect him to roll over and do whatever you want, got it?”

Unfazed by the woman’s sharp tone, Makoto nodded (though she wasn’t making any promises to her rules). “Fine.”

The women’s eyes continued to bore into each other’s while Skull sighed in irritation at the situation. He decided to lower his shotgun, resting it on the metal table. Letting out a ‘fuck’s sake’, he pulled out an orange phone from his pocket and tapped the screen a few times before holding it up to his ear.

“Yo man. Look, we, uh, got an issue.” A pause. “You gotta come up to the meetin’ room, we have…a visitor. And they ain’t leavin’ unless they speak to ya.” An even longer pause before he ran a hand over his face. “Look man, it’s a long story, just come up, we gotta think of somethin’. Could really use your wisdom right now.” One more pause and he nodded. “Thanks. See ya.”

Panther broke the staring match to look at her partner. “Is he coming up?”

“Yeah, he’s gotta finish up with Oracle and then he’ll be up. He, uh, didn’t sound too happy.”

Panther sighed heavily and lowered her gun, not seeing the intruder as a runner anymore. “Of course not, we’ve got a goddamn stranger in our hideout.”

Skull grunted before walking over to a wooden dresser on the side where the door was, leaning against it and tapping his foot on the ground as they waited. The tall woman joined him soon (not before shooting Makoto a look that translated to ‘I’m watching you’), sitting on the surface and crossing her legs while folding her arms. The man began saying something to her but due to the distance and low volume, the brunette couldn’t hear a word they were saying. Going by their expressions, she could ascertain that Skull was apologizing to Panther for his mistake, not receiving much of a forgiving response.

Makoto’s arms were lowered now but she didn’t want to make any other movement until the leader arrived. Unsure how long it would take, she decided to pass the time by studying the two thieves further.

Skull’s hair must have been bleached as having him close up earlier made her notice his small but dark eyebrows furrowing over his dark brown eyes. His ears had a silver stud in each lobe, suiting his rebellious image. The violet hoodie on his torso had a single yellow stripe going down the sleeves and sat over a black T-shirt with a graphic of a very abstract skull on it. His jeans were a light denim but she was amazed they didn’t fall apart with how destroyed they looked with the multiple rips and holes in them (she wouldn’t be surprised if he had done the modifications to a perfectly normal pair of jeans). The red hi-tops on his feet looked worn to death, the soles marked with dirt and scuffs and the canvas stained with all sorts of blotches; she can only imagine how vibrant they looked once upon a time.

As for Panther, Makoto couldn’t help but notice just how much the woman stood out. Aside from her long, wavy hair, currently held up in a high ponytail, and her bright blue eyes, she was rather tall and slender (the brunette had to look up a bit to meet her eyes), having a figure suitable for modeling. Her outfit didn’t scream ne’er do well with her rose-colored turtleneck and burgundy vest, paired with close-fitted medium wash jeans. Brown knee-high boots sat on her feet and looked like they were made of a durable material; they looked pristine compared to her partner’s footwear. Red, circular earrings hung from her earlobes, swinging a bit when she shook her head at Skull a few times. Makoto couldn’t understand how someone like her ended up in a place like this, no one on the street would look at her twice and think she was a Phantom Thief. Although, her face did look a bit familiar…

The creaking of the wooden door halted her observation and the duo’s conversation as it slowly opened to reveal a tall, lanky man. His face was impassive but his movements betrayed his displeasure, shoulders tense and fists curled at his side. His eyes immediately locked onto Makoto’s, a storm brewing in the steel gray orbs at the sight of her.

Skull and Panther immediately ran over to their leader, frantically talking over each other.

“Look man, I fucked up pretty bad but-“

“But nothing! Skull had a complete stranger follow him home and he-“

“I didn’t know she was followin’ me! Dude, you gotta beli-“

“We were trying to get her to talk but she won’t say anything else unless you-“

The man held his hand up, halting the other’s rapid-fire words. “Relax guys, I’ll handle this. Just back me up, alright?”

The two nodded, obeying his orders and staying in their spots as he approached Makoto. His appearance, like Panther’s, didn’t scream ‘I’m a Phantom Thief!’ either. He had a mop of wavy, black hair on his head, long enough to hang between his eyes and on the nape of his neck. Large, round glasses sat on his face, making him look unassuming with a quick glance but she wasn’t fooled. His torso was covered with a black crewneck sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to under his elbows, the bands around the neck, sleeve ends and hem red and white stripes. The jeans he wore were a dark wash and his shoes were casual gray oxfords, neat aside from some dirt on the beige soles. A thin, black leather bracelet sat on his left wrist, hugging the taut muscle in his forearm.

Her observation was cut short as he approached her, stopping a foot in front of her; the brunette tensed her body in case she had to defend herself. Instead, words came out of his mouth.

“Who are you?”

Makoto licked her dry lips before responding. “I’m Makoto Nijima…I’m an inspector with the Special Investigations Unit.”

The leader frowned further at this admission while Skull and Panther made noises of alarm.

“SIU?!”

“Shit, we got a copper here?!”

Makoto quickly placated the two. “Relax, I’m not here to arrest anyone. I know it’s hard to believe but…I need your help with something.”

The black-haired man raised an eyebrow at her. “So you broke into our hideout just to ask us for help?”

“Well, it’s not like I could go through the front door.”

His lips twitched a bit at her quip before he held a hand out. “Let me see your badge.”

The inspector’s eyebrow raised now in confusion. “Why do you need to see it?”

“To make sure you’re not lying to me. For all I know, you could be SIU but you’re using a fake name to protect yourself or you’re working for one of the many people we’ve targeted. You could be getting our guard down to spread out our whereabouts or even take us out in this very room.”

Finding herself unable to argue with his points, Makoto pursed her lips. “Okay. I have to reach inside my blazer, I’ll do it slowly.”

Getting a nod of approval, she took her time going inside the left side of her blazer, gripping the end of the leather case with her fingertips before slowly bringing it out to hand to the man. He flipped it open and studied the ID card with her name and picture on it, looking back and forth between it and her face. Seeing that the badge number matched with the one on the card, he nodded in satisfaction. Instead of handing it back to her, he pocketed it in the back of his jeans, bringing a sound of protest from the woman.

“Hey!”

“Relax, you’ll get it back. First, we need to talk.” The leader grabbed one of the nearby chairs and dragged it over in front of her, motioning towards it with his free hand. “Sit.”

Grumbling internally, Makoto complied, folding her hands in her lap. The other dragged his own chair over and sat down, leaning forward at the waist to rest his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together.

Eyeing her over his glasses, he began. “So, Inspector, why do you need the help of criminals? Is the SIU getting desperate?”

Not amused by the condescending tone he gave, the brunette scowled. “We’re not getting desperate.”

“Really? But you’re sitting here in my meeting room-“ A cat-like grin showed on his face. “Screams of desperation to me.”

‘Bastard.’

Holding back her temper, Makoto explained herself. “Look, I’m sure you’ve heard of Black Mask. We’re…we’re trying a different approach on apprehending them…”

At the mention of the murderer, the room seemed to drop a few degrees.

Glancing behind the man, she could see Skull and Panther looking more wound-up than before; the man’s scowl was darker and his fists balled while the woman glared down at the floorboards, her fingers digging into her folded arms. Their leader wasn’t as rigid but his gray eyes narrowed a bit.

“And what makes you think we have any info on them?”

“You’re both thieves, we figured your group would have some useful information on how they work, how they choose their targets, why they-“

“Go to hell, lady.”

A low but infuriated curse came from Skull, bringing her garnet eyes to land on him with mild surprise. The blond bared his teeth and stood straight now, pointing a finger at her.

“We have _nothing_ to do with that murderin’ fucker and if you think you can bust in here and start demandin’ help because your damn unit can’t do jack shit, you’ve got another thing comin’!”

“Skull. Take it easy.” The black-haired man’s voice rang out with a calm but firm tone. “I’m sure the inspector didn’t mean to offend-“ All of a sudden, his charcoal eyes became cold as ice, bringing a small shiver down Makoto’s spine. “Although I don’t like what’s being implied here.”

Wetting her dry lips once more, the brunette spoke up carefully. “Look, I’m not trying to incriminate or associate you with them…we just wanted to learn how the Phantom Thieves work from the inside in order to follow Black Mask or figure out who their next victim might be.”

Panther spoke with petulance this time, her arm around Skull’s waist as she tried to calm him down. “Because we’re both thieves? Is that your lead?”

Makoto’s lips pursed, eyes narrowing a bit. “No, we wouldn’t go off of such a weak idea. We found there were some similarities between the patterns of Black Mask’s thefts and your thefts.” Seeing that they were not convinced yet, the inspector took in a deep breath before talking in an empathetic tone. “Look…while I don’t condone what you have been doing, I can say for sure that you’re not killers. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you right now. I’m sure you all have reasons for taking justice into your own hands but the SIU needs to give answers to the public and capture this monster immediately. We’ve lost too many citizens to them and it needs to end _now_.”

Her ruby eyes bore into the leader’s gray ones, not wavering in order to prove her point. His reflected back with just as much intensity but it was muted by his lenses, the light in the room bouncing off and giving a glare.

“I understand if you don’t want to work with the SIU but…forget about them for now and just work with me. I love my job but I can’t rest at night any longer knowing that Black Mask is laughing at us bumbling around like headless chickens. My boss told me that this was a solo mission; you don’t have to worry about anyone else knowing about your faces, your location, _anything_. I’m asking you this not as Inspector Nijima…but as Makoto.”

For what felt like minutes, the room was silent.

Deep inside, Makoto was stressing out, wondering if she had failed in her mission already. She was awful in expressing her emotions but her desperation had caused her to crack and start spewing out what had been brewing for years now. Her frustrations, her worries, her fears, her anxiety; this situation was breaking the tight lid on her jar of stoicism. If they had rejected her, she would beg them to just kill her here and now. It was morbid but the idea of death was less terrifying than having to go back to headquarters with her tail tucked in between her legs, having to tell the Director that she couldn’t get the Phantom Thieves to cooperate. She couldn’t _stand_ failure.

Her rampaging thoughts were stopped when the leader spoke lowly.

“Makoto…are you willing to do _anything_ to stop Black Mask?”

She knew anything could mean, well… _anything_ but screw it.

“Yes.”

The man hummed in regard, still keeping his gaze on hers. After a few seconds, he talked. “Fine. I have a proposition. If you accept it, we’ll help you and only you out.”

Her brow raised. “What’s your proposition?”

Now his posture straightened up, leaning back into the chair while folding his arms across his chest. “You seem like an intelligent woman. I’m sure you’ve noticed by looking around how many members we have?”

“Yes, about four to five.”

He nodded. “Correct, we have five. But only four of us work outside of here, our fifth member specializes in intel and prefers to stay here to do their work. Most of our heists go off without a hitch but there have been some that have given us trouble. That being said…” His feline smirk from earlier returned. “We could use some help ourselves.”

Makoto’s reaction was mild compared to the giant ones that came from the other thieves.

“Wh-What?”

“Are you for fuckin’ real right now?!”

“You _can’t_ be serious!”

The leader was unfazed by their opposition, simply shrugging. “Hey, I think it’s a fair exchange. You help us, we help you, simple.”

The brunette sputtered a bit. “H-Hold on there, you want _me_ to go on heists with you?”

“Yup.”

“That…” A hand reached up to grip her head as she looked down at her lap. “That’s insanity…what if one of the officers notice me and say something to my boss? Or what if the media finds out?”

She felt like he was mocking her when his head tilted and his brows raised. “So? I thought you were willing to do anything to help the citizens out.”

Her head whipped up before she hissed out. “Yes, anything that couldn’t involve me losing my job or having to steal!”

All traces of humor left his face now. “Look Makoto, either you take this deal or you walk out of here and tell your boss that you couldn’t put your pride aside to get a lead on Black Mask. I’m sure you would love to do the latter, no?”

Her blood was beginning to boil now. This man had full control of the situation from the moment he stepped into the room. Had she rejected the deal, Makoto would’ve been the only one taking the loss; it would’ve been no skin off of the Phantom Thieves’ noses. But she really did not like the thought of having to participate in the vigilante acts she had been fighting against for the past four years, it screamed hypocrisy.

‘What else are you going to do? You have no proper leads and they’re offering to assist you. Say no and you can kiss that Police Commissioner position goodbye.’

At the thought of her end goal, Makoto’s breath halted.

She had almost forgotten about it in the frenzy of events in the last couple of hours. If she went back empty-handed, the inspector could kiss her chances of getting promoted goodbye.

Dying here right now was sounding better and better.

Taking a minute to calm herself, Makoto gave her answer. “We…we have a deal.”

The man’s smirk returned now, pleased with her response. “Good.”

Not mirroring his expression, she queried in a deadpan tone. “Since I’ll be working with you, may I know my coworker’s name?”

Looking amused now, he held a hand out to her. “Joker.”

‘So this is Joker…’

Makoto brought her hand out to shake his, noticing the firm grip. Nothing like a good old handshake to seal a horrific deal.

~•~•~•~

It was around 10 PM now and the only two on the second floor of the hideout were Joker and Skull, watching some comedy movie in the makeshift living room. They had two sofas there, once a bright blue but now resembling navy from the years of use, a coffee table in front of them and a flat screen TV along the opposite wall, sitting on a wooden stand (Skull had found it a couple of weeks ago, fixing Panther and Oracle’s complaints about having the TV sitting on the ground).

The movie was one the men had seen before but it was a favorite. Although, they couldn’t stay completely focused on the scenes, thinking about the shake-up from earlier today.

About halfway through, Skull spoke up from his reclining position. “Hey man…about earlier…”

Joker turned his head to the other sofa, giving the blond his attention. “What’s up?”

For once, the mouthy man seemed hesitant, quiet for a few seconds until he spoke in uncertainty. “Are you sure you did the right thing?” At the other’s quizzical look, he sighed and sat up, stretching. “I mean, gettin’ that cop chick to work with us…not that I wanna kill your buzz but it’s hella risky havin’ her involved in our business.”

Joker’s mouth turned down a bit. “Ryuji…I can’t say that I’m a hundred percent sure I did the right thing but I think this could work in our favor.”

Ryuji matched his frown. “And what if it doesn’t, Akira? What if she squeals and the AFS come bustin’ in here with warrants or somethin’?”

The dark-haired man sighed, bringing a hand up to push his glasses up and rub the bridge of his nose. “Then we’ll figure it out when the time comes. It shouldn’t though, that’s why I had Futaba give me that tracking device to put on her. It’d be hard to rat us out when she’s listening in on her every move.”

“True…” Sighing, he slouched over and rested his elbows on his knees. “Gotta be honest, I’m not happy about havin’ to work with a cop but if it’s to get rid of that Black Mask asshole, I’ll put on the damn uniform myself.”

Akira chuckled at the thought of the rebellious man stuffed into an officer’s uniform, looking like a fish out of water. “Hey, I’m sure Ann or Shiho might like that.”

The blond’s cheeks reddened at his friend’s teasing, flashing him a middle finger. “Fuck you, man. Ugh, I’m really gonna have to make it up to Ann for my fuck-up earlier. At least I’ve got a couple of days to figure somethin’ out.”

Akira grabbed his soda off the coffee table and took a sip. “Shiho’s back in town?”

“A-yup. Last time she was back, the three of us were attached at the hip, figured they could take some time for themselves.”

“…Ann threatened to make you sleep on the couch, didn’t she?”

Ryuji looked like a child caught stealing a cookie. “Uh huh.”

A full-blown laugh came out of Akira now. “If you want to spend the night here or at my place, you’re welcome to. I’m sure Shiho will calm her down by tomorrow and you won’t get your head ripped off when you walk through the front door.”

“God, I hope not.” A sigh left him but a soft smile came after. “I don’t know what we’d do without her, she keeps us grounded with all this bullshit goin’ on. Could’ve broke it off when she got that job offer but she’s been doin’ great on keepin’ her promises to spend her free time with us.” But a pout came soon afterwards, followed by a whine. “Aw man, I need Ann to chill out so I can go see Shiho! Hey, maybe you can shoot her a message tellin’ her that I’m _real_ sorry and that I wanna come home?”

His friend gave the blond an unamused look. “Tell her yourself, it’s your relationship, not mine.”

Ryuji gave a dramatic groan and grumbled something about unreliable people before reclining once more and watching the TV. Akira joined him as well but he barely registered what was going on still, thinking about the inspector.

‘Makoto Nijima…’

He was fairly sure he had heard or seen that name somewhere before, probably for solving some notable cases. The leader was a bit surprised to see that she was an inspector and not a police officer; he could count on one hand the amount of women in her position over the years. With the way she tailed Ryuji and broke into their hideout before making demands to be assisted, Akira could see why she had gotten that rank. He had been ready to reject Makoto until her mini speech. Her way of speaking beforehand had been curt and straightforward, true to someone who had been taking this chance for the sake of their job, but her tone became passionate when she expressed her personal feelings on how important their cooperation was. And so, he came up with the deal he presented her with.

Akira was pleased to see her give in and agree but the little voice in his head had been nagging him since then, mirroring Ryuji’s concerns. He could be putting everyone in danger if Makoto turned out to be untrustworthy and had the Phantom Thieves arrested and brought to trial; the charges against them would be exorbitant and lead to a life sentence or execution. The thought brought a frown to his face.

He couldn’t let that happen to his friends. If he had to take the fall for them, he would do so gladly. It was his fault they were involved in this group anyways.

Sighing to himself, he knew it would do no good stressing over this for the rest of the night.

And so he continued watching the movie, trying not to think about possibilities and about definite answers. Their deadline was approaching quickly and they still had some loose ends to tie up.

~•~•~•~

Makoto couldn’t remember the last time she had come home this exhausted.

She started feeling the prickling of tiredness on the train ride home but it slammed into her like a bus when she shut the front door behind her. Her shoulders were slumped, her legs and feet ached and her eyes were lidded. All she wanted to do was go straight to bed and forget about this madness for a few hours. But she was a bit sweaty from her earlier excursion and she had just changed her sheets last night…

Sighing heavily, she shrugged off her outer jacket and hung it on the coat rack before toeing off her shoes. She placed her purse down in its usual place and made a beeline for the bathroom, turning the light on before closing the door. Makoto went over to the shower and turned the handle almost all the way, waiting for the water to heat up. While that went, she undressed, hanging her rumpled clothes on the towel rack before peeking into the shower again. Now that the steam was forming, she stepped into the tub and closed the curtain, standing under the spray and letting the hot water wash over her body.

Instead of grabbing her body wash and scrubbing down, the brunette stood still and recollected on what happened at the hideout.

To think that she would be working willingly (that was debatable) with the Phantom Thieves.

She could see Japan’s citizens cheering her on for this while her coworkers would turn up their noses and scorn her for working with the enemy. But dammit, she didn’t have a choice.

Despite the hostile introduction with Skull and Panther, Joker had treated her with cool cordiality while keeping her at a distance. But the man wasn’t as non-threatening as he looked; the way he had taken control from her and held it tight was unnerving. It turned from her asking for the gang’s help into him giving her no choice but to accept his terms lest she label herself a failure. The powerlessness was a bit terrifying. And the way his eyes had become icy when he assumed she was saying the Phantom Thieves were on the same level as Black Mask…

Makoto shivered, despite herself, and turned the handle up a bit higher.

Luckily, they came to an agreement but not without some conditions. Makoto would have to have Joker as a contact number so they could discuss further actions regarding the heists (when she questioned whether she would need Skull and Panther’s numbers as well, the duo glared at her before Joker cut in saying it wasn’t necessary yet). She would also have to attend their meetings so everyone was on the same page. He mentioned that he would introduce her to Fox, one of the absent members, at one of the meetings but he couldn’t say the same for Oracle; they didn’t really leave the basement unless it was absolutely necessary.

Speaking of Oracle…

The brunette grumbled to herself lowly, not wanting the receiver to pick up on it.

Before she was allowed to leave, Joker had halted her and said he had to give her one last thing. Thinking he was going to give her the badge back, she was disappointed to see him pulling out a silver phone instead, tapping on the screen before holding it up to his ear. He began talking to the person on the other end, saying that he needed them to set up something for him and would be on his way down in a minute. They must have agreed as he hung up and asked his comrades to keep an eye on her while he left the room for a bit. The two agreed and kept close watch on the inspector, still not comfortable with her presence.

Twenty minutes went by and Joker returned, holding something in his right hand. The object was soon revealed to be a small tracking device, only two inches long and wide with an adhesive on the back; he also added on that there was a microphone on the chip as well. Immediately, Makoto protested this, saying it was an invasion of her privacy. However, the dark-haired man was not fazed, telling her that they had no choice but to do this until they could trust the inspector. Fuming but not in a position to refuse, she begrudgingly gave him the okay. Pulling the leather case out of his back pocket, Joker opened it and placed the chip underneath her badge before lowering it back in place. He then closed the case and held it out to her, telling her she was free to go now. Makoto wasted no time in snatching it out of his hand before standing up and asking one of them to walk her out. Panther, to her surprise, volunteered and motioned the woman to follow her out and down to the front door. Unfortunately, the brunette couldn’t make out anything else about the hideout; the stairwell had doors and walls separating each floor from it. As soon as they reached the door, the blonde opened it up for her and let her walk out before quickly shutting it without so much as a goodbye or even a glare.

Now the gang (or at least the one called Oracle) would know when she was sleeping, eating, at work or hanging out with Eiko.

Groaning to herself, Makoto shook her head, her wet strands sticking to her cheeks. Deciding that she should move or risk falling asleep in the shower, she reached for her pomegranate and lemon body wash and started cleaning herself of the day’s grime. Within ten minutes, she was dried off and in her bedroom, picking out a pair of clean pajamas. Settling on a plain white cami and mint green cotton pants, she dressed and was about to flop into bed until she remembered something. Her head turned to look at her shut bedroom door, connecting to the living room. It then turned to look at the badge case sitting on her dresser. She bit her lip in thought.

There were some things she had to keep to herself.

Quietly opening the door and closing it, she walked over to the picture frame of her father, picking it up and holding it below her face.

“Hey Dad…” She sucked in a breath. “I, um, I got involved in some crazy stuff today…I found the Phantom Thieves and where their hideout was and I managed to leave alive, can you believe it?” Pausing like she was expecting him to answer, she continued.

“Looks like I’ll have to start working with them if I want to catch Black Mask. This…this really goes against everything I’ve learned in the force but we’ve exhausted all our options and they might have some ideas that could help us. But I’m not comfortable with this…they’re criminals. No matter what good they think they’re doing, they’re vigilantes who keep getting in our way and make us look bad!”

Her momentary anger flare was strong but ebbed by the silence afterwards. Sighing, she spoke dejectedly. “But I’m sure you wouldn’t have had much of a problem with them if you were still with us, right? You always were understanding to people who took matters into their own hands in desperate circumstances. Sae never liked that-“ Freezing, Makoto realized who she was starting to talk about and shook her head to clear it.

“Never mind…I should get some rest, who knows how busy I’ll be from now on. Love you. Good night.”

Giving the glass a gentle press of her lips, she rested it back on its shelf and headed off to bed. Something told her she was going to need as much sleep as possible tonight.

~•~•~•~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, yo, yo >:D
> 
> Chapter 3 has arrived! Makoto has finally met the Phantom Thieves! …well, 3/5 of them. I couldn’t find a way to introduce Yusuke in this chapter without throwing off the pace so I’ll just save him for the next one or two. As for Futaba, she’s not really going to be coming out of the basement much so any interactions she’ll have with Makoto won’t be in person for quite a while. Of course, it’s not a warm welcome from them, what with Ryuji and Ann being hostile and Akira being a sneaky bastard but this was tagged ‘slow burn’ for a reason.
> 
> I’m pretty excited to start the next chapter already, we’re starting to get the ball rolling in terms of plot and action, especially with navigating the heists and the group having to get used to having an SIU member in their midst .3. I’m sure I’ll start it soon since we have a massive snowstorm over here…
> 
> Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!


	4. It Is a Stormy Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5 or any of its characters, only any original ones depicted here.
> 
> Chapter title comes from “Stormy Weather” – Tokio Hotel.

~•~•~•~

The next five days had passed quickly, especially on the weekend, and it was now September 28th. The Phantom Thieves had their deadline for the next heist approaching very soon; it was time for the group to finetune the details.

Akira, Ryuji and Ann sat in their meeting room, casually chatting about their day as they waited for two people: Fox and Makoto. The missing thief had to finish up some errands while the inspector was on her way from work. The leader was wary about Makoto since he last spoke to her Sunday night. He had called her and informed her that they were holding a meeting at 6 PM today to discuss the last bit of their plans, to which she agreed to attend (not like she had a choice). But so many things could go wrong until he saw her in person in this very room.

Maybe she had snitched and had a fellow SIU officer tailing her.

Maybe she planted her chip on a decoy.

Or maybe she wasn’t even going to come.

“Think I could get Fox to fix my gloves?”

Akira looked up at the sound of Ryuji’s voice. “Again?”

The blond man grunted. “Damn thing got snagged on my pipe and ripped at the thumb.”

Ann sighed, toying with the end of her ponytail. “You know, I don’t know why he doesn’t charge you for that. He could make a killing off of that alone.”

“It’s not like I’m doin’ it on purpose, babe!”

Lips quirking a bit as the couple continued with their usual banter, the dark-haired man heard his phone buzz on the table. Picking it up, he saw a new text message from Makoto.

_‘I’m downstairs.’_

Making a sound of approval, Akira interrupted the duo. “Hey, she’s here. Can one of you let her in?”

At the mention of the guest, Ann and Ryuji looked at their leader before shooting each other a look of reluctance.

“Uh…rock, paper, scissors?”

~•~•~•~

Makoto kept her phone in her hand, waiting for a reply from Joker to know if he got her message. She hoped he saw it and didn’t leave her out here too long; standing in front of an abandoned warehouse could make even an innocent child look suspicious.

Tapping her foot a bit, she reflected on Sunday night when her phone had started ringing while she was making lunch for the next day. Answering it without looking at the caller ID, she was a bit surprised to hear the deep voice of the Phantom Thieves’ leader. He did mention he was going to keep in contact with her but she didn’t expect it to be so soon. A meeting was going to be held on Tuesday to go over some last-minute details regarding the upcoming heist; this was going to be new territory for Makoto. Joker explained that they would fill her in as much as possible but she had to be attentive and be able to soak everything in like a sponge. She remembered huffing at that, saying that she was always a good listener and was going to catch on quick. The amused chuckle he gave preceded a cocky ‘sure you will’, prompting the brunette to give him a brisk goodbye before hanging up, chopping the rest of her onions with more force than necessary.

Just as she was about to send another text, the metal door opened up halfway before a hand motioned her to enter.

Makoto quickly squeezed herself in before looking up to see Skull shutting the door behind her. The man then shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets and gave her a slight lift of his chin.

“Yo.”

Clearing her throat, she gave him a small nod back. “Hello.”

“Surprised you actually showed up solo. Or are one of your buddies hidin’ out there?”

Makoto’s ruby eyes rolled at the blond’s hostility. “No, none of my ‘buddies’ even know I’m here. Have at least a little bit of trust in me.”

Skull snorted in disbelief, raising a short brow. “Trust and cops don’t mix for me, lady, you’ll catch on to that pretty soon.” He turned and began walking towards the stairwell. “C’mon, everyone is waitin’.”

Following the man, Makoto kept a respectable distance as they climbed the two flights of stairs. She couldn’t help but think in hilarity to herself how much easier this was versus climbing up a fire escape and busting a window open.

The two eventually reached the meeting room, Skull letting her walk in first. “Cop lady’s here.”

Joker and Panther paused their conversation to look up at their guest, the former’s mouth tilting while the latter frowned. Makoto stepped closer to the table and nodded at each of them. “Hello Joker, Panther.”

“Hello Makoto. Nice to see you kept your word.”

She shot the leader a look of indifference. “Of course I kept my word, it wouldn’t be very wise of me to not show up.”

Panther mumbled, not quite enough for Makoto to not hear. “Pity you _did_ show up.”

Her quip earned a glare from the inspector and a look from Joker that screamed ‘behave’. The woman wasn’t fazed as she continued leaning back in her chair, legs crossed as she played with the end of her ponytail. The brunette prayed that she wouldn’t continue with this the rest of the day, not trusting herself to keep her temper in check with constant smart comments. There was only so much attitude she could handle. Skull walked over to the chair next to Panther and plopped down into it, wrapping an arm around her shoulders before rubbing her arm. The blonde’s icy expression melted a bit at the touch, leaning into the other a bit. Joker took this distraction to clear his throat, catching Makoto’s attention. He motioned to one of the empty chairs on the opposite side from the couple.

“Take a seat.”

The woman complied, heading over to the folding chair and sitting down, shifting a bit to get comfortable before setting her purse down on the floor. Clasping her hands in her lap, she did her best to avoid looking in the blond duo’s direction, looking up and meeting Joker’s steel eyes instead. “Are we still waiting for Fox and Oracle?”

“Fox should be here any minute, Oracle is here though.”

At this, Makoto’s face became confused. “They are?” There were only four of them in the room, how could they be-

A crackling sound followed by a bit of static came out all of a sudden, making her jump. “I’m right here, lady!”

Makoto’s eyes widened and went to the source of the feminine voice, noticing a small speaker sitting at the long end of the table. “O-Oh…hello, Oracle.”

“’Sup?”

“Um…is there a reason you’re not present in the room?”

“Got too many things to do down here. Besides, I’ve got cameras so I can see all of you in high def! Hey Skull, you missed a patch of hair on the back of your head again.”

The observation brought a curse out of the man. “Aw come on, I’m gonna kill that damn barber of mine! ‘It won’t show that much’, my ass.”

His complaining brought a chuckle and a giggle out of the two other thieves while Makoto couldn’t help a small quirk of her lips. It went away though when Oracle spoke again.

“By the way, lady, you really need to get more sleep, you snore like a big old bear.”

The brunette’s jaw dropped at her sentence, shocked at how she said it so casually. “Wh- I _do_ get enough sleep!”

A huff came out of the speaker. “Uh huh, sure you do. Since Thursday, you’ve only slept thirty-one hours. And don’t act like you go back to sleep or take naps, I hear you rustling around like you’re getting ready for work at the crack of dawn.”

If Makoto’s personal bubble didn’t already feel violated with the tracking chip, now it had been popped completely. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment as the others stared at her in mirth at her poor sleep schedule and…loud noises. She came here to work, not to be ridiculed, dammit.

Thankfully, the door opened and interrupted Oracle’s scrutiny.

In stepped a very tall person (they had a couple of inches on Joker and Skull) with a large tote bag on their right shoulder and hands full of multiple plastic bags. Their hair was dark blue and shoulder-length, tied into a low ponytail while the bangs nearly covered their left eye. A baggy white shirt sat on their torso, the collar loose enough to expose black tank top straps and their bare right shoulder; a graphic of a large black paint splatter engulfed the lower left side. A long silver chain hung from their neck, a small ring of various keys hanging at the bottom below their chest. Their jeans were a regular denim color and flared out slightly at the bottom, nearly hiding the shiny black loafers on their feet. They kicked the door closed behind them before speaking in a deep voice.

“Apologies, everyone. I had to run back home and grab my sketchbook. It slipped my mind that I would have to be making a creation for our newest member.” The man’s gray eyes scanned the room before landing on Makoto, his head tilting in curiosity. She couldn’t help but swallow a bit at how intensely he was sizing her up. “So this is her…”

Joker got up from his seat and walked over to him, standing next to the man and motioning his hand out towards the inspector. “Fox, this is Makoto Nijima. Makoto, Fox.”

Makoto got up and walked over to Fox, holding a hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, Fox. My apologies for imposing.”

Fox snapped out of his staring at her voice and set some bags down so he could clasp her hand and shake it. “Hello Nijima-san. Please, don’t apologize. I’m sure you have your reasons for aligning with us and while I am a bit wary on them-“ She swore she saw a sparkle in his eyes. “I am sure we will manage to cooperate. But I must say, I am honored to be in the presence of an aesthetically pleasing person. You are very unlike those brutish officers I see on the streets, there’s an elegance about you.”

Makoto couldn’t help but blink owlishly at him. ‘What a way to introduce yourself.’

“O-Oh…thank you?”

Fox’s lips curled a bit. “You are very welcome, ma’am.”

The two let go of each other’s hands before Makoto took her seat once more, leaving Fox to set the rest of his bags down. He pulled a large sketchbook and a pencil case out of the tote bag before taking the seat open next to her, wasting no time in flipping it open to a blank page before scribbling. Seeing that everyone was accounted for now, Joker walked to the long end of the table in front of their whiteboard.

“Alright, is everyone ready now?”

Everyone in the room nodded while Oracle gave a ‘yup’ from the speaker.

“Good. First things first, we have a new member in our midst.” His eyes fell on Makoto’s garnet ones. “Makoto Nijima, welcome to the Phantom Thieves. Usually I’d have you tell us a bit about yourself and why you joined but I don’t think that’s necessary, no?”

Makoto narrowed her eyes at the cocky smirk the leader gave. “No, it’s not. Besides, I don’t think anyone here would care to hear what I have to say.”

Panther and Skull chuckled a bit, the former giving a snarky comment. “At least she knows how to read the room.”

Ignoring them, the brunette crossed her arms. “Why don’t you just spare the formalities and get me up to speed, Joker? I’m sure there’s still some issues you have to resolve before we go on this heist.”

The dark-haired man didn’t say anything for a few seconds, looking at her with an unreadable expression in his charcoal eyes before he nodded. “Nice to see we’re on the same level. I’m assuming you managed to read some of what was on the board before you got caught?”

“All I saw was that you were targeting Higuchi Hitoshi, the layout of his house, who was designated to steal certain items and the deadline. I have heard of Hitoshi-san before, he’s an executive producer from Sunshine Studios, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Makoto raised a brow. “Tell me why you’re targeting him.”

Joker leaned down, resting his hands on the metal table, his tone now grave. “Hitoshi has a pretty clean image to the public but we’ve gotten word from sources that he’s been sexually harassing his employees for God knows how long.”

The inspector was a bit surprised to hear this, not having heard any reports or allegations about the producer. “And no employees have told the authorities or even their HR representative?”

Skull piped in now, his leg bouncing on the ground. “That’s the issue, the piece of shit has been threatenin’ to fire them if they squeal to anyone. Apparently, it’s hard to get hired at Sunshine Studios so a lot of the victims don’t wanna risk losin’ their jobs.”

Panther joined in, a scowl on her pretty face. “And getting fired can also lead to getting blacklisted in the industry. It’s awful…”

Makoto picked up on the twinge of sorrow in the blonde’s voice, wondering if this situation was hitting a bit close to home. Either way, she could see why the gang was targeting this man. Using his position to prey on earnest workers was despicable. It boiled her blood to hear of these actions and while the rational part of her says that these should be brought up to the police, the spontaneous part knew that not much could be done by them and well, it just might make things worse for the victims. Lips turning down in disgust, she looked up at Joker again.

“So harassment, coercion and blackmail.”

“Exactly. Is that enough to convince you for now?”

The brunette pressed her lips tight, nodding with conviction. “Of course. So how are we doing this?”

Oracle’s voice boomed from the speaker. “So Hitoshi’s got some pretty high-end security systems around his mansion, any regular old burglar wouldn’t be able to get in without earning a one-way ticket to jail. But with my hacking skills, I managed to crack it and see how it’s set up and where the cameras are located. I’ll be able to temporarily deactivate the alarms and sensors along with diverting the cameras so you can all sneak past.”

Panther gave a look of confusion at the explanation. “Why not just completely deactivate everything, Oracle?”

“See, _that_ was my original plan going in but with this system, the company who makes it gets an automatic alert if any part of it is inactive for more than five minutes. It’s too risky so you guys are gonna have to be super sneaky ninjas that night.”

The blonde woman pouted but nodded, looking back at her leader now. “Alright, so we’ll really have to watch our steps. The treasure we’re grabbing, is it still the same as when we had our last meeting?”

Joker nodded, adjusting his glasses a bit. “It is. Skull, you’ll be going to the trophy room on the second floor to steal his People’s Honour award. Panther and Fox, you’re going to his office to take the manuscript for his upcoming show and the contract for his position at Sunshine Studios. Those three items should be enough-” His face became a bit troubled. “I did have something else in mind to take but it won’t work if we don’t have the right skills to execute it.”

Makoto had been listening intently but she was bewildered that she had not been given a task for the heist yet. Raising her hand, she interrupted his instructions. “Joker, exactly where do you plan to have me stationed?”

He turned to her and tilted his head, staring for about half a minute before answering. “…Can you drive well?”

The brunette blinked in surprise at the question. “It…It’s been a while but yes, I’ve never had any complaints.”

“Alright. That brings me to this-“ The smile forming on his face resembled a cat about to knock over an expensive vase. “You know how to hot wire a car?”

Of all the things she thought he was going to ask, _that_ was not one of them. “E-Excuse me?”

Skull laughed from the other side of the table. “Joker, you think cop lady of all people is gonna know how to hot wire a car? C’mon man!”

Makoto turned her ruby eyes onto the obnoxious man, narrowing them in offense. “And exactly what is that supposed to mean, Skull?”

The blond met her eyes as his lips screwed into a cocky grin. “I’m sayin’ that you probably know jack shit about that, why the hell would you need to learn somethin’ like that? I’m sure you and your buddies have perfectly workin’ cars on call, no?”

Irked by his taunting, the inspector huffed and raised her chin while crossing her arms. “You’re right, we do have functioning patrol cars, however-“ Now a smirk of her own formed. “That doesn’t mean I’ve never tried to hot wire a vehicle before.”

The way his face dropped into one of shock was satisfying.

Joker interrupted the two’s tiff. “So you _do_ have some experience…”

Looking at the table, he tapped his finger while staying silent for a minute. His head then lifted, making eye contact with Makoto once more. “Looks like that idea of mine could happen after all. Alright Makoto, here’s your task.”

When the brunette leaned forward to show she was paying close attention, he continued. “Hitoshi has a Maserati that was gifted to him by a fellow producer for his work on one of the network’s best shows, he treats that car like it was his child. To really hammer home that we’re not messing around, I want you to steal it.”

“What?!” The woman shot up out of her chair, slamming her hands on the metal table. “You must be out of your mind; do I _look_ like someone who’s stolen a car before?!”

The leader wasn’t fazed by her outburst, simply raising an eyebrow while shrugging. “Oh come on, you must have apprehended some carjackers before, you should know how they work. Plus you said you’re a good driver just now, no?”

Makoto’s head whipped back and forth, the dark brown strands brushing against her cheeks. “Yes, but that’s when I’m driving the speed limit and obeying traffic laws, not speeding away from the police because I did something illegal! Joker, this is absurd, there has to be another task you can have me do.”

“Hmm…actually, there _is_ another one you could do.”

“What is it?”

Joker’s steel gray eyes became harsher, turning stony with distaste. “You can turn around, walk out of that door and never come back here.”

Makoto’s mouth dropped, her eyes narrowing in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”

The black-haired man straightened up and walked over to her side of the table, now standing a few inches in front of her, head tilted down to meet her stare. His voice then came out icily. “If you don’t do this for us, then you can forget about having our help. I’m already risking our safety by allowing you to come back here and see our faces and know our moves, you should consider yourself lucky; any other gang would have had your body lying in a field somewhere by now.” Joker leaned closer, his nose hovering a couple of inches from hers, speaking in a low voice. “So accept the task or get the hell out.”

Having him in her personal space and subtly threatening her was starting to have a familiar anger seep into Makoto’s veins. This man had the nerve to threaten her? He was too cocky for his own good; had she been a treacherous woman, she could have the entire SIU ambushing this place before midnight. But that wasn’t her, no matter how much this guy was pushing her buttons. At the end of the day, this was her one and only lead to capturing Black Mask. She didn’t need any more innocent blood on her hands because she decided to lose her temper.

Taking in a deep breath, the brunette’s garnet eyes stared straight into his, a fire simmering underneath. “Fine. But I’m going to need some assistance with this.”

A little less hostile now that she was cooperating, Joker moved his head back a bit, raising a brow once more. “What?”

“Although I know the streets of Tokyo well, I’d still like to have an escape route laid out to prevent any accidents or capture. I’m also going to need information on the exact make and model of Hitoshi’s car to research the best way to start it.” She was going to stop there but one last idea popped up. “Oh, and one last request.”

Joker’s brow lowered again, his face mildly exasperated. “Yes?”

“I’d like someone to accompany me during the escape.”

Now his face showed full-blown irritation. “You want me to give you one of us to help even though we all have our own tasks? I don’t think so.”

Skull jeered from his spot. “Joker, don’t entertain this bullshit, man. Let her figure this shit out herself!”

“Oh Skull, you underestimate me.” Makoto’s head turned away to give the rowdy man an innocent look. “Sure, I might need assistance but what if I don’t keep my word? What if I decide to head straight to the police station and tell them everything I know? Where your hideout is, what your faces look like, who you just stole multiple articles of personal property from-“ Her rosy lips curled into a smirk. “There _is_ quite a bit of pending charges against the Phantom Thieves, they just need the suspects themselves to go ahead with them.”

Within seconds, the blond sprang up from his chair with enough force to knock it back, growling through his gritted teeth. “You fuckin’ bitch.”

Panther stood up as well, resting a hand on his chest and back, speaking in a gentle but firm voice. “Skull, calm down. Don’t let her rile you up-“ Her blue eyes laid on her face, cold as ice. “She’s not worth it.”

Skull kept his heated stare on the inspector for a bit before closing his eyes, visibly taking a few deep breaths before letting his partner lower him back into the seat that she picked up for him. The dark brown orbs opened back up but the flames in them were only higher, hoping to burn the woman on the other side of the table.

Joker sighed heavily, at Makoto’s words and Skull’s predictable outburst. He could tell the woman was just screwing around and giving a justifiable reason for having another body with her but his best friend was a man who was the definition of ‘react first, think later’. It really was a non-ideal situation that could happen if she decided to go back on her word; he’d have to be a naïve fool to think that she wouldn’t be capable of that. Rubbing the bridge of his nose under his glasses, the leader answered. “Fine, we’ll give you someone.”

Makoto smiled, pleased that her little manipulation tactic worked. “Great, I’m glad that we’re seeing eye to eye.”

The lanky man rolled his eyes at her before stepping back and looking at the others. “Alright, who’s volunteering?”

He shouldn’t have been surprised at the lack of response but it annoyed him regardless. “Guys?”

His emphasized tone brought Skull and Panther’s eyes up to him, shaking their heads no. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for either of us, Joker. You already assigned us to steal the other items and I don’t think you should leave these two in a car alone.”

Skull only nodded in agreement, not trusting his mouth to hold back from saying anything derogatory about the brunette.

Joker’s arms folded across his chest. “So why don’t you go with her instead, Panther?”

The tall woman gave him an ‘are you kidding me’ look. “Um, no. Not only do I not want to be near a cop, but somebody also needs to keep Skull and Fox focused so we can get in and out.”

The leader sighed again at her excuse before looking at the man still sketching away behind Makoto. “Fox, what about you?”

Without looking up from his book, Fox responded. “I don’t believe that’s wise, Joker. You know I get carsick rather easily plus I’m terrible with directions. I think it’s best if I abide by the task you gave me.”

“Jesus Christ…”

Oracle’s voice crackled from the speaker. “Obviously, I can’t volunteer ‘cause, you know. Sucks though, I’d like to see the inside of a Maserati!”

Joker threw his hands up before letting them fall by his sides, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Wow, thanks for coming forward, everyone.” Looking at Makoto once more, his face expressed mild defeat. “I guess I’ll be offering myself to you.”

The brunette couldn’t help the small chuckle escaping her lips, amused by how reluctant the leader was to be forced into the position she requested. “Sounds like we have a plan.”

A ringing started filling the room abruptly, everyone (sans Fox) looking around to see where it was coming from. Skull exposed himself, standing up and pulling his phone out of his back pocket, taking a glance at the screen before answering it and holding it to his ear. “Yo.”

He was quiet for a few seconds before his eyes widened. “Oh shit, for real?”

Silence again. “How powerful are we talkin’?”

Once more. A grin now came up. “Aw man, that sounds _awesome_! When-“

He stopped suddenly, the grin now changing into a surprised expression. “Today? Uh, dude, we’re kinda busy right now, I don’t think-“

A longer silence before a scowl formed. “Alright, alright, shut the hell up, damn! So pushy…I’ll see if we can stop by soon. Peace.”

Hanging up, he grumbled and turned to Joker. “That was pain in the ass Iwai. Said he finished customizing that uh, ‘tool’, for us and wants us to pick it up ASAP.”

“I’m glad he finished but why the rush?”

The blond rolled his eyes, blowing a raspberry. “Says he’s got ‘important business’ tonight and is closin’ up early, he wants us to test it out in case we need any more modifications.”

Joker mirrored the eye roll, shaking his head. “Wonderful. Alright guys, this meeting is adjourned for today, just make sure you study over the plans and shoot me a message if you have any questions.” His face became stern. “We only have four days left, there’s no room for error.”

Oracle spoke out. “Hey Joker, you got anything else for my workpile?”

“Yeah, can you look up the exact make and model of that Maserati for me? Our newest member might need some info.”

“You got it, dude. Oracle out!”

At the other’s goodbye, Makoto tilted her head in confusion at the leader. “You’re going to have her look it up for me?”

Joker nodded. “You said you needed info and I said there’s no room for errors. I’m only doing it so you don’t blow this whole thing to pieces.” He then nodded to Skull. “Come on, let’s head down to Iwai.”

The other nodded before looking down at Panther. “You comin’ too, babe?”

The blonde shrugged and stood up also. “Why not? He might have something new I could pick up for Saturday.”

“And I could get you that strawberry parfait you like afterwards!”

Panther’s eyes sparkled with delight as she hooked an arm around one of the other’s. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Wasting no time, she practically dragged her partner to the door, not before shouting a goodbye to Fox while ignoring Makoto. Joker chuckled at the display before talking to the remaining occupants in the room. “Makoto, you’re free to go once Fox is done talking to you. I’ll send you any info that Oracle comes up with. Fox, try not to give her too hard of a time.”

They both nodded at him, receiving one back before he left, shutting the door behind him. A tension she didn’t realize she was holding left her, forming into a sigh and a slump of the shoulders. Looking at Fox, she saw that his hand was still flying across the paper, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“Um, Fox?”

“One second, Niijima-san, I must finish this bit.” In a minute, his pencil finally paused before he studied the work, giving a nod to show that he was pleased. Looking up, his intensity dimmed down into stoicism. “Are you ready for me?”

“Yes, but…exactly what do you need from me?”

Fox’s slate eyes widened in mild surprise. “Why, I need your measurements. Did Joker not inform you?”

Now the inspector’s jaw dropped. “My…my measurements?”

“Yes, your height, bust, waist, hip, everything that will be necessary for me to create an outfit for you.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! What do you mean an ‘outfit’? What’s wrong with my clothes?”

The blue-haired man sighed as if he was explaining things to a child. “Niijima-san, there is nothing wrong with your current attire but it’s customary for Phantom Thieves’ members to have a special outfit for our heists to lower suspicion. If we performed while wearing our usual clothing, it would risk having our identities found out.”

Makoto was starting to understand the reasoning behind this method; it was pretty ingenious. “I see…” Her arms folded across her waist now, face morphed into wariness. “But…do you really need to go to all this trouble for me? Technically, I’m not an official member…”

Fox waved a finger in the air, now looking stern. “You may not be one in the other’s eyes but right now, you will be working with us and therefore, you _will_ need a uniform. Besides-“ A pleased smile grew on his pale face. “It has been nearly two years since I’ve made one from scratch, I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

Unable to not reflect the smile back, Makoto lowered her arms, happy that at least someone here was polite to her (even if it may have been superficial). “Thank you Fox…and you’re welcome.”

Chuckling, Fox stood up and bowed slightly. “The pleasure is mine. Now, let me go get my measuring tape and then we can begin.”

And so the duo spent the next hour with their task, getting to know each other a bit in the process. The man was surprisingly rather easy to talk to, having none of Joker’s cockiness, Skull’s brashness or Panther’s sassiness. Fox kept answering Makoto’s questions and asking a few of his own, keeping a calm yet focused demeanor the whole time. The inspector had learned that he was an artist and was responsible for the Phantom Thieves’ logo and calling cards (her jaw dropped when she found out that he had individually created each one rather than photocopy them), along with their heist outfits. He was more of a painter and drawer than a seamster but circumstances had forced him to learn some sewing skills to prevent too many outside forces being involved; in a way, he saw it as a way to broaden his horizons. Once the measurements were finished, he had her sit with him and give details on preferences and dislikes while he sketched out ideas.

She also found out some…interesting facts about Fox. The artist had told her among many things that he created a dish last night with ingredients that, in her opinion, should _never_ go in curry and he had two pet lobsters named Leonardo and Vincent. When she asked why he had lobsters, of all things, as pets, he merely looked at her like she grew two heads, saying why wouldn’t he have two lovely specimens as his pets. Not sure how to answer that without offending the man, Makoto brushed it off and went onto other topics.

By the time they were finished and Fox had walked her out, the streetlights were on and the skies were a dark blue. The brunette stretched her arms out, loosening her taut muscles. Today was _quite_ the day. Surprisingly, Makoto wasn’t tired and didn’t feel like going home to an empty apartment, just to eat, watch some TV and then go to sleep. She could only think of one solution to her problem.

Pulling out her phone, she went into her ‘recents’ folder and tapped a specific number, holding it to her ear and waiting for an answer.

“Helloooo, Mako!”

“Hey Eiko, are you busy right now?”

“Well, I _was_ about to head to work but they just called and said they don’t need me tonight!”

Wincing, Makoto remembered that her friend usually worked on Tuesday nights, reprimanding herself for forgetting. “Shoot, I forgot Tuesdays were off the table. But what happened?”

A huff sounded before she ranted. “Get this, Airi-chan asked me to cover her a few nights ago ‘cause she wasn’t feeling well so I said ‘sure, more money for me!’. That was no problem with the boss but when she offered to cover one of my own shifts this week, he said he wasn’t pleased but he would let me know ahead of time what day that would be. So tell me why the hell this asshat called me a few minutes ago, _after I got dressed and did my hair and makeup_ , to say he called Airi-chan in tonight to cover my shift! Ugh, I’m so mad but relieved at the same time, I don’t wanna be stuck in the house!”

The brunette could barely hold back her giggling as the other complained. “Well, I guess I called at the perfect time. I could go for a couple of drinks right now…maybe you can show off your outfit also?”

A fake sob came out of the receiver. “Oh Makoto, this is why I love you, you’re such a good friend! Meet me in twenty minutes?”

Looking around, Makoto realized that her current location would make her trip longer than usual. “Actually, make that thirty, I have to make a stop before I head over.”

“Okay! See ya soon!” A smooch sounded before Eiko hung up, leaving the inspector with an amused smile.

She could always count on Eiko Takao to brighten up her day.

~•~•~•~

Akira stared at the jars of coffee beans across from him, reading each label for what must have been the tenth time.

Once he, Ryuji and Ann picked up their ‘tools’ from Untouchable, the trio split up (the blonde was adamant on the parfait her boyfriend promised to buy for her), leaving him all by himself on Central Street. Stopping in Triple Seven, the black-haired man grabbed a bag full of snacks before heading underground to take the train back to Yongen-Jaya. He headed back to the hideout to find Fox by himself in the meeting room, furiously sketching away in his sketchbook. Akira hated interrupting him when he was in the zone but it was getting late and he had to get Oracle home soon. Thankfully, he didn’t kick up much of a fuss this time and packed his belongings before heading towards the door. To his surprise, Fox turned around with a serious expression, informing the leader that he should have a bit more trust in Makoto as she didn’t seem like a disingenuous person. When the leader had queried as to what brought him to such an observation, his blue-haired friend merely smiled and said it was just a hunch.

From closing up the building to walking Oracle home to heading to Café Leblanc, that statement had been on his mind.

Akira was brought out of his reverie when the bell above the door sounded, bringing his gaze over to see Sojiro entering. “Welcome back.”

The older man grunted, locking the door behind him before walking to the far side of the counter, hanging up his hat and jacket on the coat rack. “Sorry to leave you alone, you know how demanding she gets when it comes to curry. Had to make a whole new pot for her before she let me leave.”

Akira chuckled. “Didn’t you make her one yesterday?”

“Yeah, she told me she finished it this morning for breakfast!” Sojiro sighed and shook his head, seeming more tired than irritated. “That daughter of mine, I swear…”

“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy doting on her, she could’ve moved out years ago and only talk to you once in a blue moon.”

The owner sighed once more, rubbing the back of his neck as he worked out the kinks. “True, true.” Looking down at the counter, he raised a brow at the other’s half-eaten plate and nearly full cup of coffee. “Something on your mind, kid?”

Akira looked at him with confusion, wondering how he picked up on his mood. Sojiro responded by motioning to his food. “Usually by now, you’d have the plate clean and would be asking for a second cup.”

The younger man looked off to the side, eyeing the door; the closed sign was turned so no one should be overhearing what he was about to say. Slouching even more on the stool, Akira looked up at the other with reluctance. “It’s…it’s about that ‘new’ member I told you about a few days ago.”

“Oh?” Sojiro leaned back against the shelves, folding his arms across his chest. “She giving you trouble?”

The bespectacled man scoffed, picking up his cup. “Something like that.” Taking a sip, he winced when he realized his coffee had gotten cold during his daydreaming. “Damn.”

“Here, I’ll heat it up.” Akira handed the cup to the other, watching as he poured it into a tiny pot before turning the stove on. While the coffee reheated, he continued with his dilemma.

“That woman…today was the first time she attended one of our meetings. I thought it’d go according to plan but I should’ve known better. Of course Ryuji and Ann are still hostile towards her but she didn’t back down; I thought either one was going to jump across the table and swing at her.” His mouth now formed into a scowl, steel eyes darkening while his fists clenched. “And then just when I realized that she could do that one task I was going to give up on, she refuses and when I manage to convince her to do it, she flips it around and gets me involved in it.”

Sojiro raised a brow once more. “So? She’s helping you out, I don’t see what the problem is.”

Akira gave the other man an exasperated look. “The _problem_ is that she’s too damn stubborn and bossy. For someone who came asking us for help, she’s making a lot of demands and interfering with the plans that _we’ve_ come up with long before she came around.”

The owner gave him a no-nonsense gaze, shaking his head. “That can’t just be it, kid, there’s gotta be something else about this situation that’s bugging you.”

Silence stretched between the two for a couple of minutes, the sound of the TV in the background filling up the café. Akira sighed deeply, taking the glasses off of his face before setting them down, rubbing his eyes. Once he stopped, he looked back up at the older man, his gray eyes looking more tired than before.

“Since I met her, I keep wondering if I made a mistake in letting her get involved with us.” Taking the other’s silence as a go ahead, he continued. “I’ve met some silver-tongued people before and they can convince you that they shit gold until it’s too late and you’re left with nothing but piles of crap. I’m worried she’s one of them and is just playing us until she gets our guard down to turn us into SIU.” His eyes hardened, resembling stones. “I _won’t_ let any of my friends take the fall because of that, I have to keep an eye on her whenever I can; the second I get an inkling that my hunch is correct, she’s out.”

Sojiro took in his words, staring down at the wooden counter with contemplation. He brought his head back up to look at his guest. “So why haven’t you kicked her out yet?”

“I’ve been going over the idea in my head, over and over, but…” Hesitant to say the next thing out loud, Akira ran a hand through his hair to get his bearings before speaking once more. “Yusuke said something today that stopped me.”

“What was it?”

“He said…” His eyes looked into the other’s, swirling with conflicting emotions. “He said that I should trust Makoto more…that he had a gut feeling she wasn’t a bad person.”

The older man hummed in understanding, stroking his goatee. “I see…well, that kid is a strange one but he’s always been a good judge of character, from what I’ve seen.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m conflicted. I can always trust his judgment so I’m wondering if he has a point…”

“Mm.” Sojiro turned to shut off the stove before pouring the coffee back into its cup. “You want my personal opinion, kid?”

Akira shrugged, knowing he was going to get it regardless of his answer. “Shoot.”

Sojiro set the steaming cup down in front of him, his aged face showing nothing but sincerity. “Keep working with this Makoto and keep an eye on her but step back a bit sometimes and see how she carries herself. Does she treat the others with respect, even though they’re opposed to her? Is she completely changing your plans or giving suggestions on how they can be carried out better? And is she keeping her word that she won’t mention any of this Phantom Thieves business to anyone else?” His hands rested on his hips now. “Keep those in mind and you should get your answer sooner than later.”

Soaking in everything the elder was saying to him, Akira found that his words were easing his worries slightly. Although he presented himself as calm, cool and collected in front of his group, he had his own troubles that permeated in his head from being the leader of such a targeted organization. Having to juggle the responsibilities they carried out, keeping their identities a secret and living an unassuming life as a civilian didn’t do well on his mental health at times. Sometimes he needed the wisdom of someone outside of his group to get his head together and Sojiro Sakura was that someone, having known the younger man since he was a teenager. It helped that he knew about the Phantom Thieves too; having to explain your problems while holding back incriminating details was not easy.

“Alright…thanks Sojiro. I’ll keep those in mind…hopefully things get better.”

The owner nodded, pleased that his advice wasn’t being taken in vain. “Not a problem, kid. Who knows, maybe you can really get on with this woman and end up with a girlfriend!”

Akira nearly spit out his drink at the other’s joke, giving him a look of disapproval when he laughed. “Sojiro, I told you, I’m not interested in dating right now, _especially_ with a cop.”

“Heh, just messing with you, kid. Now hurry up and finish your meal so I can start cleaning up!”

Rolling his eyes at the older man, the black-haired man continued with his food while Sojiro started cleaning up the kitchen. He was used to the other taking the piss out of him but his tired brain couldn’t help but think back to what he said (why, he could not understand). Akira wasn’t blind, Makoto _was_ rather easy on the eyes but he meant what he said about putting dating on the back burner. The Phantom Thieves took up too much of his time, leaving only a crumb of attention to be given to whoever his girlfriend was at the time. But he wouldn’t entertain the thought of seeing the inspector in that way, she’d probably castrate him for even getting any ideas.

He could see their relationship ending up as something similar to Batman and Catwoman’s.

‘No thanks.’

After twenty-five minutes, Akira finished and offered to help Sojiro clean up in exchange for letting him stay after hours. By the time he left, it was after 11 PM and the streets of Yongen-Jaya were dead, save for a few office workers returning home after a long day. Heading to his house a few blocks away, he shrunk into his jacket as a strong breeze blew by, causing goosebumps to form on his skin. The temperature was steadily dropping as the days went by, showing the signs of a brisk fall season. He was eager for it to come, despite knowing that it would only get colder and the night would get longer; it meant there would be more time to work during their heists.

He reached his house eventually and opened the front gate before a meow sounded from his left, causing a smile to form before he looked over.

“Hey there. Waiting long for me?”

A black and white cat trotted over to his person, looking up at him with big blue eyes expressing annoyance. It meowed once more, bringing a chuckle out of Akira as he picked it up, scratching it behind its ears.

“Sorry Mona, had some thinking to do. You must be hungry, huh?”

Mona meowed with eagerness, its eyes twinkling with excitement at the mention of food.

Akira grinned and started heading towards the front door with the feline, shutting the gate behind him. He grabbed his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, setting Mona down, letting the cat dart inside straight to the kitchen where their bowls lay. Closing the door, the man took off his shoes and walked to the room and grabbed a jug of milk from the fridge along with a can of tuna from one of the cupboards, filling both of the bowls to the brim.

“Alright, enjoy. And don’t make a mess, okay?”

The cat meowed in response to the human’s stern look, wasting no time in digging into its dinner. Satisfied that they understood him, Akira headed upstairs to his bathroom, dying for a shower to loosen his tense muscles. Leaving the door cracked open in case Mona needed something, he quickly stripped down before turning the water on, waiting for it to heat up before stepping in. Sighing in relief, he let the hot water run over him, soaking his hair and skin while the tension escaped his body. Running a hand through his wet hair, he grimaced at the slight oiliness in the waves before grabbing his shampoo to get rid of it. Letting the suds sit for a while, he washed his body in the meantime, the scent of spearmint filling his nostrils and the bathroom. He rinsed off completely after a few minutes, toweling himself off before heading to his bedroom to change into a gray T-shirt and black joggers to sleep in.

By the time he got back to the kitchen to clean up after Mona, Akira was ready to pass out, his stomach full and his body relaxed. He washed the bowls and set them aside to dry before calling out. “Alright Mona, time for bed.”

The cat peeked its head back into the kitchen and meowed, watching the human turn off the lights before following as he went back upstairs to the bedroom, running up to the bed and hopping up, curling in its usual spot. Akira soon joined after closing the door, letting out a sigh as he laid down and pulled the covers over himself and shut his eyes.

“Night Mona. Sleep well.”

A soft meow sounded before he drifted off into a deep sleep, managing not to toss and turn as the night went by.

~•~•~•~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, ahoy!
> 
> I honestly didn’t expect to have such a gap between the last update and this one but I had some writer’s block going on along with stuff in my personal life that prevented me from finishing until now. Some changes are going to be happening so I don’t know how quickly I’ll be updating but don’t worry, I promise this story will not be abandoned! I can’t believe we’re only four chapters in and there’s already 1000+ hits and 58 kudos, it makes me so happy that people are enjoying this so far ;u;
> 
> Next chapter will be the heist itself, I’m eager yet scared to write it out lol
> 
> Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!


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